Relationship between hospitalization and functional and cognitive impairment in hospitalized older adults patients.

Objectives: To study changes in the cognitive status and dependency of patients aged over 65 years during hospitalization for bone fracture and how these changes relate to the total number of days of admission and absolute rest during hospitalization. Along with cognitive decline, musculoskeletal disorders are considered key factors in this patient population. As well as requiring hospital admission and/or surgical treatment, fractures increase the risk factors that contribute to disability and dependency in older adults.

Anxiety, attention, and decision making: The moderating role of heart rate variability.

The current exploratory research examined whether high frequency heart rate variability (HF-HRV) modulates the association between anxiety and (1) executive attentional control during situations involving neutral stimuli, in which the distractor stimuli are in conflict with the target stimulus, and (2) risk aversion in decision making. Forty-five participants (21 with low and 24 with high trait-anxiety) performed a modified version of the Attention Network Test to measure attentional control, and the Balloon Analog Risk Task to measure risk aversion. HF-HRV was recorded during a rest period before completion of the tasks.

A program of positive intervention in the elderly: memories, gratitude and forgiveness.

Objective: The main goal of this study has been to increase the quality of life in people of over 60 years through a positive psychology intervention.

Method: We employed a program which consists of training based on autobiographical memory, forgiveness and gratitude. The sample consisted of 46 participants aged 60-93 years.

Negative Affect, Decision Making, and Attentional Networks.

This study focuses on whether risk avoidance in decision making depends on negative affect or it is specific to anxious individuals. The Balloon Analogue Risk Task was used to obtain an objective measure in a risk situation with anxious, depressive, and control individuals. The role of attentional networks was also studied using the Attentional Network Test-Interaction (ANT-I) task with neutral stimuli.

Impact of admissions for bone fractures on the dependency ratio of adults over 65 years of age in Southern Spain.

Hospital admission for acute illness, as in the case of bone fractures, means for some elderly people a loss of autonomy, not always associated with the illness causing hospitalization. The factors and/or modulators contributing to this situation have not been sufficiently studied. The aim of this study was to describe the characteristics of hospitalized elderly patients diagnosed with bone fractures, after surgery is carried out, and to establish the associated variables to their cognitive and functional dependency at discharge.