Med Clin Barcelona
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In Spain, owing to the rise of international travels and immigration, the number of patients with imported infectious diseases has increased, many of them from tropical or subtropical areas. In parallel, there has been a multiplication in the number of scientific papers with Spanish authors about imported infections due to parasites, fungus, mycobacteriae, bacteriae or viruses. The risk for public health is low, althought for their correct prevention and control it is important to ease an universal access to healthcare and fair socioeconomic conditions, along with maintaining an updated clinical and epidemiological training of the health personnel. These nationwide measures must be supplemented with worldwide initiatives of global control of these infections.
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Multicenter Study
[Validation of the Spanish version of the Pain Catastrophizing Scale in fibromyalgia].
Pain catastrophization is considered an important risk factor for pain in general and, specifically, for fibromyalgia. There are no validated Spanish versions of any of the questionnaires developed to assess pain catastrophization. The aim of this study was to validate the Spanish version of the Pain Catastrophization Scale (PCS), one of the most used questionnaires to assess pain catastrophization. ⋯ The Spanish version of the PCS shows appropriate psychometric properties, similar to the English original scale. Therefore, PCS could be useful for clinical practice and research in Spanish patients with fibromyalgia.
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Comparative Study
[Cardiac surgery in octogenarian patients: evaluation of predictive factors of mortality, long-term outcome and quality of life].
Increasing life expectancy in Western countries in the last decades has resulted in a significant gradual increasing number of octogenarians referred for cardiac surgery. There is a need for a critical evaluation of the long-term surgical outcome and quality of life in the elderly. The aim of this study is to identify risk factors of mortality in octogenarians undergoing cardiac surgery and to assess the long term survival and quality of life. ⋯ Cardiac surgery in octogenarians is associated with increased in-hospital mortality rate and longer hospital stay. Our findings support that cardiac surgery can be performed in a selected elderly population with good long-term survival and quality of life.