Risk factors for hospital readmission of elderly patients

Background: The aim of this study was to identify which factors were associated with a risk of hospital readmission within 3 months after discharge of a sample of elderly patients admitted to internal medicine and geriatric wards. Methods: Of the 1178 patients aged 65 years or more and discharged from one of the 66 wards of the 'Registry Politerapie SIMI (REPOSI)' during 2010, 766 were followed up by phone interview 3 months after discharge and were included in this analysis. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association of several variables with rehospitalization within 3 months from discharge. Results: Nineteen percent of patients were readmi…

Adherence to antibiotic treatment guidelines and outcomes in the hospitalized elderly with different types of pneumonia.

none 22 no Background: Few studies evaluated the clinical outcomes of Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP), Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia (HAP) and Health Care-Associated Pneumonia (HCAP) in relation to the adherence of antibiotic treatment to the guidelines of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and the American Thoracic Society (ATS) in hospitalized elderly people (65 years or older). Methods: Data were obtained from REPOSI, a prospective registry held in 87 Italian internal medicine and geriatric wards. Patients with a diagnosis of pneumonia (ICD-9 480-487) or prescribed with an antibiotic for pneumonia as indication were selected. The empirical antibiotic regimen was defined t…

Joint use of cardio-embolic and bleeding risk scores in elderly patients with atrial fibrillation

Background Scores for cardio-embolic and bleeding risk in patients with atrial fibrillation are described in the literature. However, it is not clear how they co-classify elderly patients with multimorbidity, nor whether and how they affect the physician's decision on thromboprophylaxis. Methods Four scores for cardio-embolic and bleeding risks were retrospectively calculated for ≥ 65 year old patients with atrial fibrillation enrolled in the REPOSI registry. The co-classification of patients according to risk categories based on different score combinations was described and the relationship between risk categories tested. The association between the antithrombotic therapy received and t…

Long-term anti-TNF therapy and the risk of serious infections in a cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis: Comparison of adalimumab, etanercept and infliximab in the GISEA registry.

Objective: To evaluate the risk of serious infections (SIs) in RA patients receiving anti-TNF therapy on the basis of the data included in the GISEA register. METHODS: The study involved 2769 adult patients with long-standing RA (mean age 53.2±13.4years; mean disease duration 9.0±8.3years) enrolled in the GISEA register, who had been treated for at least 6months with TNF inhibitors or had discontinued therapy due to SI: 837 (30%) treated with infliximab (IFN), 802 (29%) with adalimumab (ADA), and 1130 (41%) with etanercept (ETN). RESULTS: 176 patients had experienced at least one of the 226 Sis during the 9years of treatment with an anti-TNF agent, an overall incidence of 31.8/1000 patient-…

Gout, allopurinol intake and clinical outcomes in the hospitalized multimorbid elderly.

Background: Increased serum uric acid has been considered a cardiovascular risk factor but no study has assessed its relation with hospital mortality or length of stay. On the basis of data obtained from a prospective registry, the prevalence of gout/hyperuricemia and its association with these and other clinical parameters was evaluated in an Italian cohort of elderly patients acutely admitted to internal medicine or geriatric wards. Methods: While the prevalence of gout was calculated by counting patients with this diagnosis hyperuricemia was inferred in patients taking allopurinol at hospital admission or discharge, on the assumption that this drug was only prescribed owing to the findin…

Prevalence and Risk Factors Associated with Use of QT-Prolonging Drugs in Hospitalized Older People

Aims: The objective of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of the prescription of QT-prolonging drugs at hospital admission and discharge and the risk factors associated with their use in older people (aged 65 years and older). Methods: Data were obtained from the REPOSI (REgistro POliterapie SIMI [Società Italiana di Medicina Interna]) registry, which enrolled 4035 patients in 2008 (n = 1332), 2010 (n = 1380), and 2012 (n = 1323). Multivariable logistic regression was performed to determine the risk factors independently associated with QT-prolonging drug use. QT-prolonging drugs were classified by the risk of Torsades de Pointes (TdP) (definite, possible, or conditional) acc…

Brain and kidney, victims of atrial microembolism in elderly hospitalized patients? Data from the REPOSI study

Abstract Background It is well known that atrial fibrillation (AF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are associated with a higher risk of stroke, and new evidence links AF to cognitive impairment, independently from an overt stroke (CI). Our aim was to investigate, assuming an underlying role of atrial microembolism, the impact of CI and CKD in elderly hospitalized patients with AF. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the data collected on elderly patients in 66 Italian hospitals, in the frame of the REPOSI project. We analyzed the clinical characteristics of patients with AF and different degrees of CI. Multivariate logistic analysis was used to explore the relationship between variables an…

Multimorbidity and polypharmacy in the elderly: Lessons from REPOSI

none 10 no The dramatic demographic changes that are occurring in the third millennium are modifying the mission of generalist professionals such as primary care physicians and internists. Multiple chronic diseases and the related prescription of multiple medications are becoming typical problems and present many challenges. Unfortunately, the available evidence regarding the efficacy of medications has been generated by clinical trials involving patients completely different from those currently admitted to internal medicine: much younger, affected by a single disease and managed in a highly controlled research environment. Because only registries can provide information on drug effectiven…

Good clinical response, remission, and predictors of remission in rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with tumor necrosis factor-α blockers: The GISEA study

OBJECTIVE: To assess the prevalence of good clinical response and remission in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with longstanding disease treated with anti-tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) drugs at outpatient clinics. METHODS: Retrospective national study of 14 academic tertiary referral rheumatology medical centers. RA patients with a Disease Activity Score (DAS28) > 3.2 were defined as having active disease and could start TNF-alpha blockers. All patients received one TNF-alpha blocker plus methotrexate (10-20 mg/wk). At the third month the patients were categorized as responders or nonresponders, based on improvement of at least 0.25 of the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ).…

Correction to: Major adverse cardiovascular events in non-valvular atrial fibrillation with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: the ARAPACIS study.

Correction to: Internal and Emergency Medicine (2018) 13:651–660 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11739-018-1835-9 In the original publication, one of the ARAPACIS collaborators Dr. “Leonardo Di Gennaro” name has been erroneously mentioned as “Leonardo De Gennaro”.

La tutela del terzo nella esecuzione per consegna o rilascio su titiolo esecutivo notarile

Comparison of Disease Clusters in Two Elderly Populations Hospitalized in 2008 and 2010

<b><i>Background:</i></b> As chronicity represents one of the major challenges in the healthcare of aging populations, the understanding of how chronic diseases distribute and co-occur in this part of the population is needed. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> The aims of this study were to evaluate and compare patterns of diseases identified with cluster analysis in two samples of hospitalized elderly. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Data were obtained from the multicenter ‘Registry Politerapie SIMI (REPOSI)' that included people aged 65 or older hospitalized in internal medicine and geriatric wards in Italy during 2008 and 2010. The s…

Relationships between diuretic related hyperuricemia and cardiovascular events: data from the URRAH (URic acid Right for heArt Health) study.

Objective Although the relationship between hyperuricemia and cardiovascular events has been extensively examined, data on the role of diuretic-related hyperuricemia are still scanty. The present study was designed to collect information on the relationship between diuretic-related hyperuricemia and cardiovascular events. Methods The URic acid Right for heArt Health (URRAH) study is a nationwide, multicentre, observational cohort study involving data on individuals recruited from all the Italy territory under the patronage of the Italian Society of Hypertension with an average follow-up period of 122.3 ± 66.9 months. Patients were classified into four groups according to the diuretic use (y…

The stigma of low opioid prescription in the hospitalized multimorbid elderly in Italy.

The primary aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of opioid prescriptions in hospitalized geriatric patients. Other aims were to evaluate factors associated with opioid prescription, and whether or not there was consistency between the presence of pain and prescription. Opioid prescriptions were gathered from the REgistro POliterapie Societa` Italiana di Medicina Interna (REPOSI) data for the years 2008, 2010 and 2012. 1,380 in-patients, 65+ years old, were enrolled in the first registry run, 1,332 in the second and 1,340 in the third. The prevalence of opioid prescription was calculated at hospital admission and discharge. In the third run of the registry, the degree of pain was…

Within-patient reproducibility of the aldosterone: renin ratio in primary aldosteronism.

The plasma aldosterone concentration:renin ratio (ARR) is widely used for the screening of primary aldosteronism, but its reproducibility is unknown. We, therefore, investigated the within-patient reproducibility of the ARR in a prospective multicenter study of consecutive hypertensive patients referred to specialized centers for hypertension in Italy. After the patients were carefully prepared from the pharmacological standpoint, the ARR was determined at baseline in 1136 patients and repeated after, on average, 4 weeks in the patients who had initially an ARR > or =40 and in 1 of every 4 of those with an ARR <40. The reproducibility of the ARR was assessed with Passing and Bablok and Demi…

Comparative study of the efficacy of olmesartan/amlodipine vs. perindopril/amlodipine in peripheral blood pressure after missed dose in type 2 diabetes

Introduction: Combination therapy is needed to control blood pressure (BP) in a large number of hypertensive patients with diabetes mellitus. Adherence to treatment is a major clinical problem; therefore, the time duration of the antihypertensive action of a drug determines BP control when a dose is skipped. Objectives: The aim was to determine whether the fixed-dose combination of olmesartan/amlodipine provides equal efficacy and safety as the perindopril/amlodipine combination when a drug dose is missed. Methods: In this noninferiority trial with a randomized, double-blind, double-dummy parallel group, controlled design, 260 patients received either olmesartan 20-40 mg/amlodipine 5-10 mg …