0000000000067741
AUTHOR
Mary Martinez-martinez
Frailty and leucocyte count are predictors of all-cause mortality and hospitalization length in non-demented institutionalized older women.
Alteration in the immune system such as the number of white blood cells count (WBC) has been associated with frailty syndrome but their role in institutionalized older individuals have been rarely investigated. We evaluated the relationships between white blood cell subtypes, geriatric assessment, depression and frailty syndrome based on the criteria of physical phenotype. In particular, we aimed to analyze by a two-year follow-up and prospective study the predictive value of alterations in WBC, frailty and functional impairment in terms of hospitalizations and all-cause mortality in institutionalized older women. There was a significant and inverse correlation between the frailty score and…
The value of neutrophil and lymphocyte count in frail older women.
Increasing evidence suggests that systemic inflammation is associated with many pathophysiological processes including frailty in older adults. We evaluated the relationships between white blood cell subtypes, geriatric assessment, and frailty syndrome and in particular, how they correlate with individual frailty criteria (involuntary loss of weight, low energy or exhaustion, slow mobility, muscle weakness, and low physical activity) in frail older women. There was a significant and positive correlation between the frailty score and neutrophil count, but a significantly negative correlation was found when this score was compared to the lymphocyte count. These associations were significant o…
Relationship between mobility and cognitive impairment in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is usually accompanied by impairments to mobility, performance of the basic activities of daily life (ADL), and progressive cognitive decline. We analyzed the relationship between cognitive performance and related cognitive subdomains and mobility.All AD patients of the recruited individuals were living in nursing homes; they underwent a blood analysis, cognitive examination by using the Mini-Mental State Examination, functional evaluation of independence in the ADLs with Barthel score and Katz index, and mobility assessment with the elderly mobility scale.The mean sample age was 84 years and majority were women; more than 60% of the participants had severe cognitiv…
Serum vitamin D and functional impairment in octogenarian women.
Abstract Purpose Serum vitamin D deficiency has been associated with frailty in people aged 65 and over, however its relationship with functional impairment has not been investigated in octogenerian (aged 80–90 years) institutionalized women. Methods We assessed functional impairment in this latter group by measuring frailty syndrome and other geriatric and psychological assessment scales: the Tinetti gait and balance index to determine the risk for falls, the Barthel index to measure the basic activities of daily living, the Lawton index for instrumental activities, the mini-mental score examination test for cognitive impairment, the Yesavage scale for geriatric depression, and the Norton …
Sleep Alterations in Non-demented Older Individuals: The Role of Cortisol
Background: Sleep alterations can impair quality of life and contribute to disease progression but they, and their features and contributing factors, are rarely analysed in institutionalised older individuals. In this study, we investigated sleep alterations, the factors involved, and the role of cortisol in sleep-related problems in institutionalised individuals. Methods: We conducted a descriptive cross-sectional study in participants living in nursing homes in Valencia (Spain); sleep alterations were determined based on two validated tools: the Athens insomnia scale and Oviedo sleep questionnaire. Plasma cortisol was measured in the morning and determined by high performance liquid chrom…
Effect of a Prebiotic Formulation on Frailty Syndrome
Aging can result in major changes in the composition and metabolic activities of bacterial populations in the gastrointestinal system and result in impaired function of the immune system. We assessed the efficacy of prebiotic Darmocare Pre (R) (Bonusan Besloten Vennootschap (BV), Numansdorp, The Netherlands) to evaluate whether the regular intake of this product can improve frailty criteria, functional status and response of the immune system in elderly people affected by the frailty syndrome. The study was a placebo-controlled, randomized, double blind design in sixty older participants aged 65 and over. The prebiotic product was composed of a mixture of inulin plus fructooligosaccharides …
Subjective and objective sleep quality in elderly individuals: The role of psychogeriatric evaluation
[EN] Aging affects sleep and sleep problems are common in older individuals. However, the relationship between objective and subjective tools for analysing sleep and psycho-geriatric variables have not been tested in institutionalised older individuals. This work analyses sleep quality by using actigraphy as an objective tool and validates the Athens and Oviedo sleep questionnaires in octogenarian elderly individuals as subjective scales of sleep perception. All patients wore an actigraph device for one week and then completed the Athens and Oviedo clinical sleep-evaluation questionnaires. Morning cortisol levels in blood plasma and saliva samples were also measured to assess the associatio…
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor correlates with functional and cognitive impairment in non-disabled older individuals.
We used a complete battery of geriatric and psychometric tests to evaluate whether plasma-borne brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), a master molecule in neuroplasticity, is associated with the severity of functional and cognitive impairment in non-disabled older individuals. There was a significant positive correlation between BDNF plasma concentrations and the Barthel index, a measurement of the ability of individuals to perform the activities of daily living (p=0.03) and the concentration subcategory measured with the mini mental state examination (MMSE) test (p = 0.01). Furthermore, plasma BDNF inversely and significantly correlated with the blood eosinophil count (p = 0.01), the t…