0000000000038515
AUTHOR
Irene De Ronch
showing 4 related works from this author
Body mass index as a predictor of all-cause mortality in nursing home residents during a 5-year follow-up.
2013
Background: Body mass index (BMI) is considered a short-term mortality predictor, but a consensus has not been reached on its role and that of other nutritional parameters in predicting long-term mortality in nursing home residents. Objectives: To correlate BMI, Mini Nutritional Assessment scores, and serum albumin levels with the 5-year mortality rate in institutionalized elderly subjects. Methods: A total of 181 nursing home residents aged ≥70 years were included in a 5-year longitudinal study. Data were collected on all participants' nutritional, health, cognitive, and functional status by means of a comprehensive geriatric assessment. Data on the participants' vital status were obtained…
Predictors of emergency department referral in patients using out-of-hours primary care services
2016
Background Out of hours (OOH) doctors could manage many cases limiting the inappropriate accesses to ED. However the possible determinants of referral to ED by OOH doctors are poorly studied. We aimed to characterize patients referred from the OOH to ED service in order to explore the gate-keeping role of OOH service for hospital emergency care and to facilitate future research in improving its cost-effectiveness. Methods A retrospective study was made through data collection of 5217 contacts in a local OOH service in the North-East of Italy (from 10/01/2012 to 03/31/2013). Results Only 8.7% (=454 people) of the total contacts were referred to ED. In the multivariate analysis, the significa…
Effect of Oral Beta-Hydroxy-Beta-Methylbutyrate (HMB) Supplementation on Physical Performance in Healthy Old Women Over 65 Years: An Open Label Rando…
2015
Although older people are particularly liable to sarcopenia, limited research is available on beta-hydroxy-beta-methylbutyrate (HMB) supplementation in this population, particularly in healthy subjects. In this parallel-group, randomized, controlled, open-label trial, we aimed to evaluate whether an oral supplement containing 1.5 g of calcium HMB for 8 weeks could improve physical performance and muscle strength parameters in a group of community-dwelling healthy older women. Eighty healthy women attending a twice-weekly mild fitness program were divided into two equal groups of 40, and 32 of the treated women and 33 control completed the study. We considered a change in the Short Physical …
Role of out of hours primary care service in limiting inappropriate access to emergency department
2017
Out of hours (OOH) doctors can have an important gate-keeping role over the access to the emergency department (ED), but the outcome and the quality of their ED referrals have been poorly studied. We aimed to investigate the outcome of patients referred to ED from OOH service and the determinants of admission or short-stay dispositions. We collected retrospectively data about referrals to ED from a local OOH service in the north-east of Italy using the OOH paper register and the ED electronic database, over the period of 01/10/2012 to 31/03/2013. Out of 5217 patients accessing the OOH service, 408 referrals were included in our analysis. 45.3% (185) of the referrals were admitted to hospita…