Aging clinical and experimental research
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Review
Is frailty a prognostic factor for adverse outcomes in older patients with acute coronary syndrome?
There is very limited guidance in regard to how biological age should be estimated and how different comorbidity conditions influence the benefit-risk ration of interventions. Frailty is an important health-related problem in patients, especially in older adults. It is a reflection of biologic rather than chronologic age; frailty may explain why there remains substantial heterogeneity in clinical outcomes within the older patients' population. ⋯ Frailty measured by Canadian Study of Health and Aging Clinical Frailty Scale (CSHA-CFS), the Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS), Fried score, Green scores, frailty instrument from the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE-FI) index, and FRAIL (Fatigue, Resistance, Ambulation, Illnesses, Loss of weight) scale, leads to significantly higher mortality rates in older patients with ACS.
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The early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic have focused on containing SARS-CoV-2 infection and identifying treatment strategies. While controlling this communicable disease is of utmost importance, the long-term effect on individuals with non-communicable diseases (NCD) is significant. Although certain NCDs appear to increase the severity of COVID-19 and mortality risk, SARS-CoV-2 infection in survivors with NCDs may also affect the progression of their pre-existing clinical conditions. ⋯ We may have opportunities to learn from this unprecedented crisis on how to leverage healthcare technologies and improve procedures to optimize healthcare service provision. This article discusses how the COVID-19 outbreak and related infection control measures could hit the most frail individuals, worsening the condition of NCD patients, while further jeopardizing the sustainability of the healthcare systems. We suggest ways to define an integrated strategy that could involve both public institutional entities and the private sector to safeguard frail individuals and mitigate the impact of the outbreak.
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To assess the outcome of augmentation techniques, i.e., percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP), balloon kyphoplasty (BKP), vertebral body stenting (VBS) and fixation techniques in the management of vertebral fragility fractures (VFFs). ⋯ BKP showed better clinical and radiological outcomes compared with CM and PVP. BKP revealed as effective as VBS in VBH restoration with less material-related complications.
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Aging is accompanied by several changes which may affect swallowing function. The beginning of these changes, termed presbyphagia, still captures a preserved swallowing function, although burdened by the consequences of the physiological aging process. Several stressors (including diseases and medications) can easily trigger the disruption of this (increasingly weak) equilibrium and lead to overt dysphagia. ⋯ Interestingly, some evidence suggests that resistance training traditionally applied to tackle the lower extremity in sarcopenia may be simultaneously beneficial for sarcopenic dysphagia. If these preliminary results (discussed in the present review article) will be confirmed, the systemic beneficial effects of physical exercise will be indirectly demonstrated. This will also support the need of promoting healthy lifestyle in all sarcopenic individuals (thus potentially at risk of dysphagia).
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The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to quantify the effect of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) on glycemic control and cardiorespiratory fitness compared with moderate-intensity training (MICT) and no training at all in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). ⋯ HIIT may induce more positive effects in cardiopulmonary fitness than MICT in T2D patients.