Geographical disparities in obesity prevalence: small-area analysis of the Chilean National Health Surveys.

Background: Previous representative health surveys conducted in Chile evidenced a high obesity prevalence rate among adults, especially in female and urban areas. Nevertheless, these have limited utility for targeted interventions and local source allocation for prevention. This study analyzes the increments in obesity prevalence rates in populations ≥15 years of age and the geographic variation at the regional level.

[Cardiovascular complications in COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care units in Chilean hospitals].

Background: Patients with a cardiovascular (CV) history may be at greater risk of becoming ill and die due to SARS-CoV-2.

Aim: To assess the incidence of CV complications in COVID-19 patients, the type of complication, and their association with CV history.

Material And Methods: The clinical course of 1,314 patients with COVID-19 admitted consecutively to critical care units of 10 Chilean hospitals was registered between April and August of 2020.

Prevalence of Marijuana Use among University Students in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru.

Young adults 18 to 25 years old show the highest prevalence of marijuana use in Latin America. This study analyzes the changes in prevalence of marijuana use among university students in the Andean Community (Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru) from two studies carried out in 2009 and in 2012. Data were collected through representative two-stage samples of universities and students in the Andean Community.

Exploring child maltreatment and its relationship to alcohol and cannabis use in selected Latin American and Caribbean countries.

Objectives: Research from developed countries shows that child maltreatment increases the risk for substance use and problems. However, little evidence on this relationship is available from developing countries, and recognition of this relationship may have important implications for substance demand reduction strategies, including efforts to prevent and treat substance use and related problems. Latin America and the Caribbean is a rich and diverse region of the world with a large range of social and cultural influences.

[Usefulness of thrombolytic therapy with low doses of streptokinase in acute myocardial infarction].

Background: The optimal dose of Streptokinase in the treatment of acute myocardial infarction is not well established. Apparently, the thrombolytic efficacy would not increase with doses over 750,000 units.

Aim: To compare the effectiveness and safety of treatment with low doses of Streptokinase, ranging from 500,000 to 750,000 units, in patients with ST elevation acute myocardial infarction.

Predictive factors for pressure ulcers in the ambulatory stage of spinal cord injury patients.

Study Design: Case control study.

Objective: To determine the main risk factors for pressure ulcer (PU) in ambulatory spinal cord injury (SCI) patients.

Setting: Hospital del Trabajador, Santiago, (ACHS (Chilean Security Association), Chile.

[Profile of the treated elderly hypertensive patient].

Background: There is concern about the consequences that hypertension has on the well being and mortality of elderly people.

Aim: To compare the morbidity and mortality of young and old treated hypertensive subjects.

Material And Methods: Retrospective analysis of hypertensive subjects treated and followed for a period of 10 +/- 9 years.

[Morbidity and mortality of treated essential arterial hypertension in a 26 years follow up].

Background: Treatment has a definitive impact on mortality in hypertension. The magnitude of blood pressure reduction, the type of drug used and the associated risk factors may modulate the effect of treatment on mortality.

Aim: To report the effects of treatment of essential hypertension, in a cohort followed for up to 26 years.

[Reduction of myocardial infarction mortality in Chilean hospitals].

Background: The characteristics of patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) admitted to 37 Chilean hospitals (GEMI Registry Group), have been analyzed in the period 1993-1995 and 1997-1998.

Aim: To report the changes in hospital mortality between these 2 periods, with a particular emphasis on the impact of treatment.

Patients And Methods: Between 1993-1995 we collected information from 2,957 patients and between 1997-1998 we registered 1,981 patients with MI.

Coronary heart disease and periodontitis -- a case control study in Chilean adults.

Objectives: To investigate the association between periodontal disease parameters and coronary ischemic disease among 30-50-year-old Chileans.

Material And Methods: Cases were 30-50-year-olds who were hospitalized in one of four Cardiologic Units in Santiago, Chile, for acute myocardial infarction, unstable angina or angina pectoris. Controls had undergone surgery due to gall bladder stones or abdominal hernia.

[Risk factors for morbidity and mortality in patients with essential hypertension, followed for 25 years].

Background: Among hypertensive patients, other risk factors for mortality and morbidity, besides blood pressure, must be considered when therapeutic decisions are done.

Aim: To assess the incidence and relevance of cardiovascular risk factors in a cohort of patients with essential hypertension.

Material And Methods: A cohort of 1,072 treated patients with essential hypertension was followed for a period up to 25 years.

Spanish validation of the Syndrom Kurztest (SKT).

There is an urgent need in multinational studies for efficient and sensitive tests for the evaluation of dementias. These tests are used to investigate the regional characteristics of dementias, providing possible insight into the different etiologies of the disorders. These tests are also utilized to assess the outcome of treatment interventions at multinational levels.

[The classification of coronary lesion from Society for Cardiac Angiography and Intervention predicts better results of coronary angioplasty than the one from American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Coronary Disease].

Background: The classification of coronary lesion complexity, using the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) is a predictor of balloon angioplasty success. Stents have improved results even in complex lesions.

Aim: To compare the ACC/AHA and the new Society for Cardiac Angiography (SCA&I) coronary lesion scores as predictors of angioplasty success.

[Changes in the patterns of drug prescription for acute myocardial infarct. Comparison of 2 periods].

Background: Pharmacotherapy of Chilean patients with acute myocardial infarction has been recorded in 37 hospitals since 1993.

Aim: To compare pharmacotherapy for acute myocardial infarction in the period 1993 to 1995 with the period 1997-1998.

Patients And Methods: Drug prescription during hospital stay was recorded in 2957 patients admitted to Chilean hospitals with an acute myocardial infarction in the period 1993-1995 and compared with that of 1981 subjects admitted in the period 1997-1998.

Long-Term treatment with cisapride and antibiotics in liver cirrhosis: effect on small intestinal motility, bacterial overgrowth, and liver function.

Objectives: Altered small-bowel motility, lengthening of the orocecal transit time, and small-intestinal bacterial overgrowth have been described in patients with liver cirrhosis. These changes might be related to the progressive course and poor prognosis of the disease. We investigated the effect of a long-term treatment with cisapride and an antibiotic regimen on small-intestinal motor activity, orocecal transit time, bacterial overgrowth, and some parameters of liver function.

Small-intestine absorption during continuous intraduodenal infusion of nutrients in dogs.

Motility and exocrine and endocrine secretions of the gastrointestinal tract are modified during postprandial periods. Experimental evidence suggests that nutrients stimulate small-intestine absorption, but the mechanisms involved are uncertain. Further, the effects of mixing nutrients with different physicochemical compositions on absorption and motility are not completely elucidated.

Search for primary infection by Pneumocystis carinii in a cohort of normal, healthy infants.

To determine whether Pneumocystis carinii is associated with clinical illness in the competent host, 107 normal, healthy infants were enrolled in a 2-year prospective cohort study in Chile. P. carinii was identified by specific stains and nested--deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) amplification of the large subunit mitochondrial ribosomal ribonucleic acid gene of P.

[Categorizing variables in the statistical analysis of data: consequences for interpreting the results].

Frequently during the process of data analysis in epidemiological studies, the scale of one or more continuous variables is changed. The objective of this paper was to assess the consequences of categorizing variables during data analysis. We studied three situations with different scenarios for statistical analysis with regression models.

[Consumption of licit and illicit drugs in Chile: results of the 1998 study and comparison with the 1994 and 1996 studies].

The principal results are presented here from the Third National Study of the Consumption of Drugs, which was carried out in Chile by the National Board for Narcotics Control between 1 September 1998 and 15 January 1999. The 1998 study used the same methodological design as the first and second studies, which were done in 1994 and 1996. The 1998 study expanded the sample to 31,665 individuals, who were representative of a population of 6,940,727 people from 12 to 64 years old, both sexes, and five socioeconomic levels and who were residents of urban areas in 62 commune administrative divisions of the 13 regions of the country.

[Acute myocardial infarction in Chilean hospitals. Final results of the GEMI study].

Background: Acute myocardial infarction is the leading cause of death in Chile.

Aim: To report the main features, hospital evolution, complications and pharmacological treatment of patients admitted to Chilean hospitals with the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.

Patients And Methods: Between 1993 and 1995, the GEMI group registered 2,957 patients admitted to 37 hospitals with the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction.

Bedside markers of coronary artery patency and short-term prognosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction and thrombolysis.

Background: In this study we have evaluated the prognostic power of noninvasive markers of coronary artery reperfusion in patients with acute myocardial infarction who were treated with intravenous streptokinase.

Methods: In 967 consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction who were treated within 6 hours of symptoms, we analyzed the prognostic power of resolution of chest pain and ST-segment elevation >50% at 90 minutes, abrupt creatine kinase rise before 12 hours, and T-wave inversion in infarct-related electrocardiographic leads within the first 24 hours after thrombolysis.

Results: Global in-hospital mortality rate was 12.

[Comparative study of the efficacy of two types of BCG vaccines administered in different doses].

Background: In 1993, WHO and UNICEF recommended the administration of 0.05 ml doses of BCG, instead of 0.1 ml, to newborns.

Discordant uterine artery velocity waveforms as a predictor of subsequent miscarriage in early viable pregnancies.

Objective: Our purpose was to determine whether an abnormal uterine perfusion pattern was associated with subsequent pregnancy loss after fetal cardiac activity was documented.

Study Design: Pulsatility indexes of both the right and left uterine arteries were obtained by transvaginal color Doppler ultrasonography in 318 consecutive viable pregnancies between 6 and 12 weeks' gestation. The Delta uterine artery pulsatility index value, expressed as the highest uterine artery pulsatility index value minus the lowest value, was calculated for each pregnancy.

[Efficacy and tolerance of a five day course of ciprofloxacin in the treatment of urinary tract infection in women. Multicenter study].

Background: There is no consensus about the ideal antimicrobial agent and duration of treatment for urinary tract infection in women.

Aim: To assess the efficacy of a five days course of ciprofloxacin for the treatment of urinary tract infection in women.

Patients And Methods: Women with urinary tract infection were treated with ciprofloxacin (Baycip, Bayer) 250 mg bid during 5 days.