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27/100

✓ Peer-reviewed alzhub usefulness score 27 out of 100. Risk factors

Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies

He was just another old man in a busy emergency department during my clinical attending shift. An ambulance brought him in after he fell in the grocery store. My senior resident Carlo and I were called to see him because he was struggling with a C-collar that he didn't need. He clearly broke his wrist even though he said it didn't hurt. He proved his point to us by moving his broken wrist back and forth while we winced and splinted his hand. There were bruises on his face. It looked like he broke his jaw as well even though he spoke clearly. We put him in a room and ordered his imaging. His wrist was broken. Orthopedics reduced the fracture and put him in a cast. His jaw was broken. I paged plastics surgery for his facial trauma. The old man didn't ask for anything. I offered him pain medicine, water, a phone call, and he declined politely. He was just another uneventful patient who fell. “Where do you live?” Carlo asked. The old man could not give us an address. “How will you get home?” Carlo asked. “I'll take the bus!” he replied. “Which bus?” I asked. “Any bus,” he answered. “Do you have any family?” I pursued, knowing that we could not let the old man leave alone. “My granddaughter!” “What's her phone number?” I asked. He didn't know. “Do you know where you are?” I asked. He didn't know. “I have to get home to my wife,” he repeated. “She's waiting for me to come home.” “Umm, he seems to have some dementia,” I said over the phone. “Yeah, we think so,” answered the granddaughter. “Besides, if you keep him in the hospital, he'll keep trying to go home to his wife,” she said, echoing the old man's very own words. Wow, I thought. The old man's love and devotion to his wife was so entrenched even the onset of dementia could not erase her from his mind. She's waiting for me to come home, I heard again. We all have notions of enduring love—finding the one meant-to-be despite life's obstacles, faith in our love in a world of hurt, togetherness to the bitter end. There was something incredibly loving in the old man's dedication to his wife. It wouldn't be so bad, I thought, finding someone you loved so deeply that you would remember her even when you didn't know your way home. You still knew in your heart that you loved her and you had to go to her because she was there waiting for you to come home. We should all be so lucky.

Key findings

She's waiting for me to come home, I heard again.
We all have notions of enduring love—finding the one meant-to-be despite life's obstacles, faith in our love in a world of hurt, togetherness to the bitter end.
There was something incredibly loving in the old man's dedication to his wife.
It wouldn't be so bad, I thought, finding someone you loved so deeply that you would remember her even when you didn't know your way home.
You still knew in your heart that you loved her and you had to go to her because she was there waiting for you to come home.

Why it matters

This essay describes an older man with a broken wrist and jaw who could not give his address but remembered his wife. It contains no findings on treating, curing, or preventing Alzheimer's disease.

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Study details

Evidence strengthLow

How this study scored 27/100

Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, sample size, effect reported, studied in people and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.

Component	Points	Why
Journal tier	7 / 10	Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (Academic Emergency Medicine)
Journal's citation record	2 / 4	Academic Emergency Medicine: journal h-index 177 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29)
Study design	0 / 12	No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Strength of evidence	1 / 5	Rated “low” in our summary
Peer-review validation	10 / 10	Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal.
How recent	2 / 5	2019 — within 10 year(s) of the newest study here
Sample size	0 / 4	Participant count not stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Effect reported	0 / 3	No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Studied in people	0 / 3	Not stated whether this was studied in people — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Randomised / blinded	0 / 2	No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0)
Times cited	0 / 7	Cited 0 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10)
Citations per year	0 / 5	0.0 citations a year over 9 year(s) since 2019
Impact for its field and year	0 / 6	Cited 0.0× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI)
Cited by studies here	0 / 6	No other study in this library cites it
Still being cited	0 / 4	Cited 0 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex)
Senior author's track record	1 / 4	Last-listed author Siu Fai Li: h-index 13 (OpenAlex, whole career)
Institution's track record	0 / 3	Jacobi Medical Center: institution h-index 195 (OpenAlex)
Multi-centre collaboration	0 / 3	OpenAlex lists 1 institution(s) in 1 country — scores zero (affiliation lists can be incomplete)
Indexed in PubMed	2 / 2	Indexed in PubMed (PMID 31006152)
Free to read	2 / 2	Free to read
Total	27 / 100	—

What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →

Read the original

Full text: free to read — OpenAlex lists this copy as free to read: the link above (checked 6 Feb 1020).

Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris

Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. Check the citation against the original before you use it.

APA 7th

Li, S. F. (2019). An Old Man's Love. Academic Emergency Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1111/acem.13771

Vancouver

Li SF. An Old Man's Love. Academic Emergency Medicine. 2019. doi:10.1111/acem.13771. PMID: 31006152.

BibTeX

@article{li2019-31006152,
  author  = {Li, Siu Fai},
  title   = {{An Old Man's Love}},
  journal = {Academic Emergency Medicine},
  year    = {2019},
  doi     = {10.1111/acem.13771},
  pmid    = {31006152},
  url     = {https://doi.org/10.1111/acem.13771}
}

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