CAG Prognostication of
Acute Recovery Capacity
– in an Aging Population
(ACUTE)

ACUTE-CAG will improve acute care and treatment for elderly and frail multimorbid patients suffering from chronic disease and polypharmacy.

Of the 1.3 million hospitalizations that take place in Denmark each year, 1 million are acute and 70 percent involve the elderly, which could make the country’s emergency rooms the center of opportunistic risk screening and interventions from a time-to-treatment perspective if we want to improve health care outcomes and limit health care costs for the aging population.

Acute illness in the multimorbid elderly is often complicated by competing acute and chronic disorders and polypharmacy, which creates an increased risk of side effects when taking medication and other treatments.

Very few mechanistic and interventional studies have been carried out from the time acute illness occurs, due to logistical challenges in the busy emergency rooms, which receive patients around the clock. Despite recommendations and political ambitions, the group of acutely ill multimorbid elderly is therefore rarely treated and investigated.

ACUTE-CAG’s purpose is to address this challenge by exploring non-disease-specific interventions and implementing treatment strategies targeting multimorbid patients. A translational approach is taken that involves clinical disciplines, mathematics, and research as well as collaboration with researchers in social science, political science, and economics for the benefit of education and the development of sustainable solutions.

ACUTE CAG’s Ph.D. and postdoc projects are anchored in the following framework areas:

• Aging and Senescence: translational science investigating senescence, metabolism, inflammation, tissue damage, and physical decline.
• Optimization of acute patient trajectories: clinical research and implementation science testing efficacy and feasibility of complex interventions across sectors and professions.
• An aging population: epidemiological studies on the development and care of multimorbidity using cluster modulations of national health records and biobanks under the ACUTE CAG.
• The Future of Healthcare: organisational research, sociology and health economics investigating frameworks for healthcare utilization in a national and global perspective.