Medicina clinica
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Antithrombotic treatment and characteristics of elderly patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation hospitalized at Internal Medicine departments. NONAVASC registry.
The prevalence of non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) increases with the patient's age and is associated with high morbi-mortality rates. The main goal of this study was to describe the characteristics of hospitalized elderly patients with NVAF and to identify the clinical and functional factors which determine the use of different antithrombotic strategies. ⋯ Hospitalized patients older than 75 years old with NVAF showed numerous comorbidities. The percentage of anticoagulation was small and 18% received only anti-platelet therapy. The patient's age, atrial fibrillation's progression time and the severity of the cognitive impairment influenced this therapy choice.
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Hepcidin is the main regulator of iron metabolism and a pathogenic factor in iron disorders. Hepcidin deficiency causes iron overload, whereas hepcidin excess causes or contributes to the development of iron-restricted anaemia in chronic inflammatory diseases. We know the mechanisms involved in the synthesis of hepcidin and, under physiological conditions, there is a balance between activating signals and inhibitory signals that regulate its synthesis. ⋯ The most important inhibitory signals are related to active erythropoiesis and to matriptase-2. Knowing how hepcidin is synthesised has helped design new pharmacological treatments whose main target is the hepcidin. In the near future, there will be effective treatments aimed at correcting the defect of many of these iron metabolism disorders.