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El objetivo de este trabajo fue conocer la frecuencia y la manera en que las plantas medicinales son empleadas por las gestantes del Centro de Salud Viña Alta del distrito de La Molina. En el estudio participaron veintiuna gestantes, quienes respondieron una encuesta, validada por expertos, sobre el uso de plantas medicinales. Se demostró que el 86,00 % de las gestantes utilizaron plantas medicinales, y que 67,00 % no consultó con un médico sobre su empleo. La manera más frecuente de consumo de las plantas medicinales fue la vía oral, en forma de infusiones. Las plantas medicinales más utilizadas fueron manzanilla, perejil, eucalipto, boldo, aloe, menta y ruda; y algunas de ellas mostraron efecto teratogénico, estimulante uterino, abortivo, entre otros. Es necesario conocer la cantidad real y la manera más frecuente en que las gestantes consumen las plantas medicinales, con la finalidad de clasificar estos productos de acuerdo al nivel de seguridad que ofrecen y promover el uso racional de la medicina tradicional para contribuir en la salud pública.

In the context of the current COVID-19 pandemic, higher morbidity and mortality have been reported in older adults. This age group presents physiological changes and its own clinical conditions such as frailty, dementia, among others., Objective: To describe the characteristics of COVID-19 patients, both over and under 80 years old, by conducting a systematic review of the literature describing case reports, and to summarize and critically assess these characteristics., Methods: Systematic review. The study was registered on the Registry of Health Research Projects (PRISA) of the Peruvian National Institute of Health (code EI00000631). Five electronic databases (Scopus, PubMed, PubMed Central, LILACS, and SCIELO) were systematically searched during the period between December 31, 2019 and April 16, 2020. The search focused on case reports, case studies, and case series of older people with COVID-19 infection aged over or under 80 years. When selecting the cases, priority was given to clinical and epidemiological profile, laboratory and imaging patterns, and comprehensive geriatric evaluation., Results: 1,149 articles were identified; after applying the filters, a total of 15 publications of case reports and complete records of 27 older adults were obtained. The most frequent age group was between 60 to 69 years old. There is little literature regarding case reports of older adults aged over 80 years. The most frequent parameters were hypertension, fever, cough, respiratory distress, ground-glass opacification in chest radiography and tomography. Furthermore, decrease in PaO 2 /FiO 2 ratio and lymphocytes, and increase in C-reactive protein and Interleukin 6 were observed., Conclusions: This systematic review found little available information of patients under 80 years old, and far less for those over 80 years old, and an absence of comprehensive geriatric assessment., Competing Interests: Disclosure: The authors report no conflicts of interest.

Background: Multiple markers are used to assess frailty and vulnerability, conditions associated with the development of chemotherapy toxicity (CTT). However, there is still no consensus on which condition has stronger association with this adverse effect of chemotherapy in the elderly., Objectives: To evaluate the association between frailty and vulnerability with the development of CTT in oncogeriatric patients., Design, Setting, and Participants: Through a retrospective cohort, a secondary database of 496 male oncogeriatric military patients treated at the Geriatrics Service of the Naval Medical Centre of Peru during 2013-2015 was analyzed., Measurements: With prior informed consent, the presence of frailty, assessed by Fried Phenotype; and vulnerability, assessed by the Vulnerable Elders Survey-13 (VES-13) and G-8, was determined. The follow-up of patients in chemotherapy was performed every 8 weeks, to determine the development of CTT (according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events v4.0). In addition, we included sociodemographic characteristics, medical background information and functional assessment variables. The data collected was encoded and imported into STATA v14.0 statistical package for analysis. Multivariate analysis was performed using crude and adjusted Cox regression models. The reported measure was the hazard ratio (HR) with their respective 95% confidence intervals (95%CI)., Results: The average age was 79.2 ± 4.3 years. 129 (26.01%) developed CTT during follow-up. Similarly, 129 older adults (26.01%) were positive for frailty according to Fried phenotype; 101 (20.36%) were positive for vulnerability with VES-13, and 112 (22.58%) with G-8. In the adjusted Cox model, by type of cancer and adverse effects, a statistically significant association was found between the 3 scales evaluated and the development of CTT, with the Fried Phenotype as the scale with the strongest association (HR=2.01; 95%CI: 1.04-4.90)., Conclusions: The frailty and vulnerability in the elderly are conditions associated with the development of CTT. The Fried phenotype was the scale with the most significant association with the outcome studied., Competing Interests: The authors disclose no conflict of interest.