Revista española de geriatría y gerontología
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Rev Esp Geriatr Gerontol · May 2014
Review[Use of methadone in the elderly with cancer pain: a systematic review].
To identify the clinical use of methadone as an analgesic in the management of cancer pain in elderly patients. ⋯ There are insufficient data on the use of methadone as an analgesic in the elderly with cancer. Given its pharmacological characteristics it must be used by trained personnel. Several recommendations are proposed for its use as an analgesic in the treatment of cancer pain in the elderly.
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Rev Esp Geriatr Gerontol · May 2014
Review[Use of methadone in the elderly with cancer pain: a systematic review].
To identify the clinical use of methadone as an analgesic in the management of cancer pain in elderly patients. ⋯ There are insufficient data on the use of methadone as an analgesic in the elderly with cancer. Given its pharmacological characteristics it must be used by trained personnel. Several recommendations are proposed for its use as an analgesic in the treatment of cancer pain in the elderly.
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Rev Esp Geriatr Gerontol · Jan 2014
Review[Scales to evaluate pain in elderly patients suffering from dementia. Help-tools for the physiotherapist, doctor, nurse and occupational therapist].
The purpose of this study was to determine which scales are being used to evaluate pain in old people suffering from dementia. A search strategy was developed to retrieve all articles (randomized controlled trials and clinical trials without randomization) published in MEDLINE, Cochrane Library Plus, PEDro and Dialnet and BMC Geriatrics from January 2000 to January 2012. ⋯ From the results obtained it appears that more studies are needed to confirm the pain scales used for the elderly suffering from dementia. Observational scales may be useful to evaluate pain in these patients.
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Rev Esp Geriatr Gerontol · May 2013
Review[Subsyndromal delirium in elderly patients: a systematic review].
In this systemic review, the articles published between 1990 and November 2012 on subsyndromal delirium (SSD), and specifically those with reference to geriatric patients, were analysed. In SSD, symptoms from the three nuclear domains of delirium (cognitive, circadian and higher order thinking) are simultaneously present, with mild to moderate severity. ⋯ Regardless of the criteria used for diagnosis, SSD is persistently associated with poor functional and cognitive outcome, longer hospital stay, institutionalisation, and increased mortality. Studies are needed on the physiopathology, treatment and prevention in the field of SSD, which is a particularly important clinical condition in geriatric patients.
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Rev Esp Geriatr Gerontol · Jul 2012
Review[Polypharmacy in frail elderly patients: is deprescribing the answer?].
Deprescribing is the process of reconstructing multiple medication use by review and analysis and which concludes with dose modification, replacement or elimination of some drugs or adding others. Its development is intended to resolve tensions and contradictions between two sets of questions: 1/is life expectancy shorter than the time the drug takes to obtain a benefit?, and 2/are the goals of prescribing-deprescribing consistent with those of care? The validity of the rationale on deprescribing is based on scientific and ethical reasons. The usefulness and safety of many drugs that frail elderly or terminally ill takes is unknown, and other drugs may cause troublesome or severe side effects. Thus, in some cases their removal could be justified, being substantially safe doing so.