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Aims Grading right ventricular dysfunction (RVD) in patients with left ventricular (LV) disease has earned little attention. In the present study, we established an echocardiographic RVD score and investigated how increments of the score correspond to RVD at right heart catheterization. Methods and results We included 95 patients with LV disease consecutively referred for heart transplant or heart failure work‐up with catheterization and echocardiography within 48 h. The RVD score (5 points) included well‐known characteristics of the development from compensated to decompensated right ventricular (RV) function: pulmonary hypertension, reduced RV strain, RV area dilatation, moderate/severe tricuspid regurgitation, and increased right atrial pressure (RAP) by echocardiography. Comparing three groups with increments of RVD score [1 (mild), 2–3 (moderate), and 4–5 (severe)] showed more advanced RVD with increasing RV end‐diastolic pressure (P

Objective Coarctation of the aorta (CoA) is a common condition. Adult patients with newly diagnosed CoA and patients with recurring or residual CoA require evaluation of the severity of aortic obstruction. Cardiac catheterization is considered the gold standard for the evaluation of hemodynamically significant CoA. The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) Guidelines for the management of grown-up congenital heart disease (GUCH) include noninvasive criteria for identifying significant CoA. Our aim was to investigate the ability of the Class I and Class IIa ESC recommendations to identify significant CoA at cardiac catheterization. Design Sixty-six adult patients with native or recurrent CoA underwent diagnostic cardiac catheterization at the GUCH unit at the Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg from October 1998 to November 2013. Clinical and imaging data, as well as data about cardiac catheterization were retrospectively collected from patient records. Results The Class I ESC recommendations predicted significant CoA with a sensitivity of 0.57, a specificity of 0.63, a positive predictive value of 0.67, and a negative predictive value of 0.53. The combination of Class I and Class IIa recommendations predicted significant CoA with a sensitivity of 0.75, a specificity of 0.42, a positive predictive value of 0.66 and a negative predictive value of 0.52. Conclusions the noninvasive criteria proposed by the ESC guidelines to identify subjects with significant CoA performed poorly in our dataset. Further research is needed to develop more accurate, noninvasive criteria to evaluate CoA severity and thereby reduce the number of unnecessary cardiac catheterizations.

Background: All over Europe, an increased use of public health services has been noticed, particularly referring to access and hospitalization among elderly in the emergency department (ED). Methods: Prospective study at a university teaching hospital in Turin, northern Italy, recruiting subjects aged >65 years consecutively attending the medical ED during 1 month. Demography, functional and cognitive status, comorbidity, severity of acute critical illness, previous ED accesses and hospitalization, diagnosis and other relevant data for ED admission and hospitalization were considered. Results: Data were collected for 1632 patients (average age 77.6 years), 89% of the 1834 older subjects who attended the ED during the study period (29.3% of the patients attending the ED). Six hundred and fifty older subjects were admitted to the hospital (62.2% of the hospital admissions). Severity of acute critical illness, presence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart failure, a high number of drugs being taken, functional dependence and advanced age were independently associated with hospital admission. One-third of the patients appeared to be frequent users of health services with more than two visits/admissions. Higher comorbidity, partial or complete functional dependence, chronic diseases (arrhythmia, pulmonary neoplasm, diseases of the large intestine) and politherapy were associated either with frequent use of the ED and multiple admissions. Conclusions: Elderly account for a high proportion of hospitalizations, mainly determined by critical health conditions, advanced age and functional dependence. Poor health conditions (high comorbidity and presence of chronic multi-organ diseases), functional dependence but not critical social factors were the main determinants of multiple hospital admissions.

Background: Blood pressure (BP) variations occurring after hospital discharge in a population of older hypertensives have not been previously investigated. Design: elderly (≥65 years) hypertensives admitted to the geriatric acute ward of a university-teaching hospital were enrolled in this prospective observational study. Methods: Exclusion criteria were terminal illness, discharge to institution, and changes in antihypertensive regimen. BP was recorded in the emergency room, at ward admission, daily during hospital stay, and at discharge. Home self blood pressure measurement was performed after discharge. Results: The study population included 106 patients. There was a significant decrease in systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) throughout the study time points. SBP and DBP decreased after discharge (from 135.1 ± 15.0 to 131.5 ± 16.1 mmHg and from 77.2 ± 8.4 to 71.6 ± 8.7 mmHg, respectively), the difference being significant only for DBP ( p = 0.000). We further observed higher prevalence of critically low BP values (SBP Conclusions: We observed a decrease in BP values, and particularly DBP values, after hospital discharge, in a sample of older hypertensives. Critically low BP values were observed at home in a high proportion of subjects, suggesting wise use of antihypertensive therapy at discharge and early monitoring of BP values at home.

Physical activity is effective in primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that exercise training improves glucose and lipid metabolism, the inflammatory/anti-inflammatory balance, and the outcome of elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with stable coronary disease.Sixty-two patients scheduled to undergo PCI for stable angina were randomized to intensive physical activity (n=33) consisting of home-based exercise on a bicycle ergometer or maintain their usual sedentary life (n=29). The training program started 2 months before PCI and terminated 6 months afterwards. Clinical examination, blood sampling (fasting glucose, glycated hemoglobin, lipid profile, apolipoprotein B, apolipoprotein A1, C-reactive protein, serum amyloid A, interleukin-6, interleukin-8, and interleukin-10), and maximal exercise tests were performed at inclusion, 1 week before PCI, and 3 and 6 months afterwards.Fifty-six patients [28 per group, 45 men, mean age 63 (SD 7.8) years] completed the follow-up. According to self-reports, patients in the training group exercised more often and longer [4.9 (SD 1.1) vs. 0.6 (SD 1.3) days/week, 36 (SD 12) vs. 15 (SD 31) min/session, P0.0001]. Improvement in maximal exercise capacity was significantly better in the training group [27 (SD 27) vs. 9 (SD 27) W, P=0.02]. Exercise had no significant effects on glucose and lipid metabolism, plasma cytokines, or acute-phase reactants.A home-based training program significantly improved maximal exercise capacity but did not affect glucose or lipid metabolism or markers of inflammation.

Most strategies for delirium prevention in older hospitalized patients are common good clinical geriatric care. We investigated whether acute geriatric ward (AGW) hospitalization, compared with acute general medical ward (AGMW) hospitalization,is associated with reduced incident delirium in older medical inpatients.prospective observational study.a tertiary care, university hospital in Torino.consecutive medical patients 70 years or older admitted from the emergency department to an AGW and to an AGMW were included.Baseline measures included demography, functional and psychocognitive status, comorbidity, physiological and clinical severity of acute illness. Incident delirium was evaluated by qualified psychiatrists according to the Confusion Assessment Method and the Delirium Rating Scale.Delirium occurred in 8 of 121 patients admitted to AGW (6.6%) and in 20 of 131 patients admitted to AGMW (15.2%). After adjustment for significant differences in baseline covariates between groups, AGW hospitalization remained independently associated with less incident delirium (relative risk 0.90, 95% confidence interval: 0.024-0.331, p0.001). In a multivariable logistic model with delirium incidence as independent variable, AGW hospitalization was independently associated with lower delirium incidence (relative risk 0.039, 95% confidence interval: 0.007-0.214, p0.001), whereas greater cognitive impairment (p0.001), higher Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II score (p 0.001) and recent stressful events (p0.001) were associated with increased delirium incidence.AGW hospitalization is associated with less incident delirium among older medical inpatients. Despite inherent limitations of observational studies, these hypothesis-generating findings add to previous evidence of potential benefit in delirium prevention from geriatric consultation in several hospital settings.

The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MS) increases with advancing age. However, aging per se is associated with increased prevalence of most of the abnormalities contributing to the MS. Whether MS in older people consistently identifies a true pathophysiological entity or a casual aggregation of aging-associated metabolic abnormalities, remains to be fully elucidated. In the present study, we aimed to evaluate whether in older subjects the aggregation of metabolic components of the MS, as defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III), is consistent with a single latent variable. Age, waist circumference, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, metabolic variables were determined in 152 older (>70 years), non-diabetic, healthy men. Cronbach alpha was used to assess the internal consistency of the components contributing to the MS. Structural equation modeling, using the Normed Fit Index (NFI), the Root Mean Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA), the Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and the Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) was used to assess the fit to a model with a single latent variable. The Cronbach alpha test showed low internal consistency among the metabolic variables (α = 0.31). The calculated χ2 values were 28.31 and 32.52 for model entering hypertension as dichotomous variable and for model entering blood pressure values, respectively, both expressing low fit to a model with a single latent variable. In both models, CFI (0.41 and 0.55), NFI (0.59 and 0.55), RMSEA (0.25 and 0.22) and TLI (−0.31 and −0.12) scores showed a low fit of the metabolic alterations to a single latent variable. These findings suggest caution in making diagnosis of MS at older ages, since metabolic and cardiovascular abnormalities being per se extremely common in elderly people, do not appear to cluster together under a single common factor.

We evaluated clinical implications of the white-coat effect (WCE) in cardiovascular (CV) risk stratification in the primary prevention setting of a Lipid Clinic. We compared home self blood pressure measurement (SBPM) with office blood pressure (BP) readings and BP measured by a nurse before and after the visit on consecutive subjects, free of previous CV diseases, attending at a Lipid Clinic for a first visit. Additionally, we evaluated whether and to what extent the difference between these measurements affect the 10-year cardiovascular risk calculated according to current guidelines. Mean home self-measured systolic and diastolic BP values were significantly lower than physician's and nurse's readings (p=0.000). A WCE was observed in 60.3% of patients during the physician's visit, and in 33.9% and 36.6% of nurse's measurements before and after visit, respectively. Compared with computation of SBPM, inclusion in risk predictive model of systolic BP values obtained by physician and nurse (before or after visit) resulted in significantly higher calculated CV risk (p=0.000) and in a higher risk-class allocation in 16.5%, 8.5% and 9.4% of patients, respectively (p=0.000). Our findings show that among patients attending at a Lipid Clinic there is a high prevalence of WCE, which is roughly halved when nurse's BP measurements were considered. Nurse's BP measurements before or after the doctor's visit may reduce, but not eliminate at all, the clinic overestimation of BP. The WCE associated with physician's office visit carries a substantial probability of 10-year CV risk overestimation in the primary prevention setting.

Background and aims: Caregiving can be extremely stressful, especially when patients’ ability to communicate is impaired. While the stress undergone by relatives assisting their loved ones has been widely investigated, fewer data can be found about the stress in healthcare professionals. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether a specific training course could be related to a reduction in the levels of stress of professional care-givers working with patients suffering from dementia. Methods: Work-related levels of stress of study participants were evaluated with the Staff Stress Measure Dementia Care Scale, at baseline and four months after completion of an eight-month training course. Results: We found no significant correlation between care-givers’ age, gender, marital status, years of employment or perceived economic status, and their stress levels at baseline. Patients’ characteristics were not related with care-givers’ stress at baseline. The mean level of stress was significantly reduced (34.64±4.15 vs 26.64±3.82, p

The hospital-at-home service (HHS) could be considered as an alternative to the traditional ward for elderly patients. We aimed at evaluating the home management of elderly people requiring transfusions. The ever-increasing demand on acute hospital services requires alternative methods of delivering all aspects of health care. HHS demonstrated to be as efficacious as a traditional ward for elderly and functionally compromised patients. The method was a retrospective descriptive study enrolling patients needing an hospital admission from 1st January 2007 to 31st December 2007 and reporting an hematological discharge's diagnosis as primary or secondary diagnosis. A total of 54 patients were evaluated in this study. Of them, 34 (62.9%) needed a hemocomponent transfusion for a total volume of 112 blood units and 49 platelet pools. Patients requiring at least one blood or platelet transfusion were more functionally compromised and presented a higher level of acute physiology and chronic health evaluation, compared to the non-transfused ones. The conclusion was that hematological subjects mainly the frail ones and functionally highly compromised with acute illnesses could be treated at home as an alternative of the traditional medical ward. This could be the starting point for future studies that will be able to increase the power of hospital-at-home service for this type of patients.

Delirium usually occurs during hospitalisation. The aims of this study were to evaluate the incidence of delirium in “hospital-at-home” compared to a traditional hospital ward and to assess mortality, hospital readmissions and institutionalisation rates at 6-month follow-up in elderly patients with intermediate/high risk for delirium at baseline according to the criteria of Inouye. We performed a prospective, non-randomised, observational study with 6-month follow-up on 144 subjects aged 75 years and older consecutively admitted to the hospital for an acute illness and followed in a geriatric hospital ward (GHW) or in a geriatric home hospitalisation service (GHHS). Baseline socio-demographic information, clinical data, functional, cognitive, nutritional status, mood, quality of life, and caregiver’s stress scores were collected. Of the 144 participants, 14 (9.7%) had delirium during their initial hospitalisation: 4 were treated by GHHS and 10 in a GHW. The incidence of delirium was 16.6% in GHW and 4.7% in GHHS. All delirious patients were very old, with a high risk for delirium at baseline of 60%, according to the criteria of Inouye. In GHW, the onset of delirium occurred significantly earlier and the mean duration of the episode was significantly longer. The severity of delirium tended to be higher in GHW compared to GHHS. At 6-month follow-up, mortality was significantly higher among patients who suffered from an episode of delirium. Moreover, they showed a trend towards a greater institutionalisation rate. GHHS may represent a protective environment for delirium onset in acutely ill elderly patients.

We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of oxycodone/acetaminophen (O/A) and codeine/acetaminophen (C/A) vs. conventional therapy (CT) without opioids in older women suffering from osteoarthritis (OA)-related pain, sub-optimally responsive to prior conventional treatments. We performed a 6 week, randomized, single blind, controlled study in three nursing homes. We enrolled 154 women with painful OA. They were assigned to treatment with O/A (n=52) and C/A (n=52) vs. CT (n=50). We evaluated at baseline and at week 6: average pain in the last week (mean pain, MeP), pain at rest (RP), pain in movement (MP) (numeric rating scale, NRS); depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II, BDI-II); functional status (activities of daily living, ADL) and cognitive status (mini mental state evaluation, MMSE). We considered the adverse events (AEs) in the study period. At week 6, MeP, RP and MP were significantly reduced in all three groups (p

Objective This study investigated whether high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) levels are independently associated with subclinical peripheral atherosclerosis. Methods. Clinical variables, cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, 10-year CV risk, the antebrachial Index (ABI), and the carotid intima—media thickness (cIMT) were determined in a sample of consecutive subjects free from previous CV disease, admitted for a first visit at a lipid clinic. Results. In the overall sample (320 subjects, mean age 63 years, 35.8% men), hs-CRP levels were associated with major CV risk factors, 10-year CV risk, lower ABI, and higher cIMT values. In a logistic model, after adjustment for significant covariates, the associations of hs-CRP levels with ABI and cIMT were no longer statistically significant. Conclusions. Among asymptomatic, moderate- to-high CV risk subjects, hs-CRP levels were associated with severity of peripheral atherosclerosis, but these associations were not independent of traditional CV risk factors, suggesting a limited predictive role of hs-CRP for subclinical atherosclerosis.