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There is marked improvement in the level of papers and
diversity that the journal is receiving that indicates
that one of our missions to stimulate research in the
area in the field of ageing has been successful.
In this issue a cross sectional
study was conducted on elderly patients in Cairo looked
at the Prognostic value of hyponatremia in elderly Patients
with Acute Coronary Syndrome
One hundred patients ,aged > 60 years, both
males and females. All patients had a sodium level determined
at time of admission and after 48 hours, serial ECG
and cardiac enzymes (creatinine phosphokinase (CPK)and
CPK-MB fraction)levels . Of 100 patients , 52 patients
were admitted with STEMI and 48 with NSTEMI , 73 were
hyponatremic (S-Na <135 mEq/L) and 27 were normonatremic
(S>or=135 mEq/L). Patients who had hyponatremia were
more likely to die or have recurrent myocardial infarction
in the next 30 days ( p <0.05). On multivariate analysis
, hyponatremia was a strong predictor of adverse outcome
(odds ratio 2.4, 95% confidence interval ). The authors
concluded that hyponatremia is associated with 30-days
adverse outcome in patients presenting with acute coronary
syndrome..
A paper looked at the association
between Nutritional Status using the Mini Nutritional
Assessment and the severity of Pressure Ulcer in Elderly
Hospitalized Patients at King Abdul-Aziz Medical City
in Riyadh. The authors followed a cross sectional study
using pre-post test which included thirty five elderly
patients newly diagnosed with PU admitted at KAMC. Nutritional
status and PU was assessed at baseline and after two
months at the end. Anthropometric measurements taken
and blood samples collected to analyze albumin, blood
urea nitrogen (BUN), creatinine, before and after two
months. the results showed that 88.6% of PU patients
were malnourished or at risk of malnutrition at baseline
using the MNA test, and there were a reduction in the
MNA score with the severity of PU. The MNA score was
significantly increased at post study, and 54.3% of
the subjects were healed completely from PU at the end.
The results showed that all patients classified as normal
nutritional status were completely healed from PU, 79%
of at risk of malnutrition were completely healed, while
only 24% of malnourished were completely healed. The
result showed that there was a significant negative
correlation between MNA score and age. There were significant
positive correlations between MNA score and BMI, CC,
MAC and albumin at baseline. The authors concluded that
the results indicated that the severity of PU in elderly
subjects is affected by nutritional status using MNA
score. Thus, optimizing diet may help in treating and
reducing the severity of PU in elderly subjects. This
should be an integral part of any PU management.
A paper from Doha that was part
of thesis toward the fulfilment of the master in Geriatric
and Gerontology. The author study the situation of urinary
tract infection in home care.
Urinary tract infection is a very common problem in
general practice, but it is more prominence in elderly
patients and its average prevalence is 25-40%. A retrospective
study at homecare residents was between September 2010
to September 2011 where the medical records and files
of all patients were reviewed. 132 patients of the total
residents(614) had got UTIs within a period of study.
One hundred and thirty two had growth of microorganism
. Most of them was single organism (80% of the growth
is due to a single organism) ,but about more than 50%
associated with bacteria in the urine Usually more than
100,000 organisms per ml. The most common causative
organism it was E.COLI( 57 patients ) i.e 42.5% of total
patients who are suffered of UTI . The author concluded
that Asymptomatic bacteriuria is common in elderly patients,
and that it is more common in women.
A paper from Dubai looked at
Health Care Services utilization and satisfaction among
elderly in Dubai, UAE and some Associated Determinants.
The author stressed that Planning and utilization of
health services in elderly group is very important concern
for both elderly as well as health care services providers.
A cross sectional study was carried out in primary health
care facilities at Dubai health authority , United Arab
Emirates among elderly (aged 65 years or more) similar
to the most developed world countries which accepted
the chronological age of 65 years as a definition of
elderly. Sample size estimation through Utilizing EPI_INFO
"6.04", applying certain criteria was (384)
participant both males and females. Sample type was
Stratified random sample with proportional allocation.
The study has revealed that Elderly having not enough
income were more liable to be high utilizers of services
as compared to those having enough and more than save
income (OR= 0.32; CI: 0.14-0.74). Elderly with IHD and
those with osteoporosis were significantly more liable
to be high utilizers of services as compared those without
these diseases (OR= 0.56; CI: 0.32-0.97 and OR= 0.36;
CI: 0.16-0.79 respectively). The study showed that lower
utilizers of these services were significantly more
satisfied than high utilizers (P<0.05). On the other
hand, there was no statistically significant association
between utilization of services and other items of satisfaction
score. The study showed that satisfaction with services
is correlated to the income (OR= 0.24; CI: 0.20-0.88)
However, the association was not statistically significant
(OR= 0.82; CI: 0.29-2.31). The authors concluded that
the majority of the elderly at the primary health care
centres were low utilizes (Less than once/month) of
services. The significant determinants of being less
very satisfied about the services provided were being
illiterate or with an educational level less than secondary
school, having osteoporosis
A cross section study
was conducted to assess the cognitive functions of elderly
subjects in Hemodialysis. 94 subjects 60 years old and
above were included. All subjects were subjected to:
1- comprehensive geriatric assessment. 2- laboratory
investigations including: hemoglobin, serum creatinine,
serum urea, serum potassium, serum sodium and serum
albumin. Kt/V as a marker of dialysis adequacy was calculated.
The study revealed that 26 (27.7%) patients had normal
cognitive function, 32 (43%) had mild cognitive impairment,
21 (23%) had mild dementia, 8 (8.5%) had moderate dementia
and 7 (7.4%) had sever dementia. Older age, low education
level and longer duration of dialysis history were found
to have significant associations with cognitive impairment,
[P: < 0.001, 0.002, and 0.012 respectively]. While
hemoglobin, serum albumin, serum creatinine, serum urea,
serum potassium and Kt/V showed no significant association
with cognitive impairment, Serum sodium and dry weight
dialysis showed significant difference between patients
with normal cognitive function and patients with cognitive
impairment, [P <0.001 both]. The authors concluded
that cognitive impairment is prevalent in Egyptian older
adult in HD and more prevalent and severe in those with
older age, low education, lower level of serum sodium,
longer duration of dialysis history and higher dry weight.
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