Publications by authors named "Dimitra Tsakona"
Article Synopsis
- Frailty affects individuals living with HIV earlier than in those without HIV; this study in Greece aimed to determine its prevalence among this population and link frailty criteria to clinical data.
- The study involved 477 HIV-positive participants, primarily men (93%), with a median age of 43; findings showed 62.1% were robust, 33.8% pre-frail, and 4.1% frail, highlighting weakness in grip strength as the most common frailty indicator.
- The results emphasize the importance of a comprehensive care approach, as factors such as lower CD4 counts and psychiatric issues correlate with frailty, indicating varied healthcare needs for people living with HIV.
Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is highly comorbid with mental disorders in any disease stage, while psychiatric manifestations may precede the onset of neurological symptoms as well as diagnosis. Neuropsychiatric comorbidities are associated with an elevated risk of MS disability progression, and therefore, people with multiple sclerosis (PwMS) with psychiatric comorbidities often experience a significantly lower functional status, perform worse in objective neuropsychological assessment, are less likely to adhere to pharmacological treatment, and exhibit higher levels of disruption of their supportive social environment as compared with "non-psychiatric" PwMS. The present study aims to estimate the nationwide use of psychopharmacological agents by PwMS in Greece.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo estimate current prevalence of multiple sclerosis (MS) in Greece using administrative data from the nationwide medicine prescription database. Prescription records of a 24-month period (June 2017-May 2019) were analyzed in order to identify cases of MS. Sex, age, and place of residence were recorded for each identified case.
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