Health care for older people in Italy: The U.L.I.S.S.E. Project (Un link informatico sui servizi sanitari esistenti per l'anziano - a computerized network on health care services for older people).

Objectives: The U.L.I.

Orthostatic hypotension as cause of syncope in patients older than 65 years admitted to emergency departments for transient loss of consciousness.

Background: Syncope due to orthostatic hypotension (OH) refers to loss of consciousness caused by hypotension induced by the upright position; it is an important risk factor for fall-related physical injuries, especially in the elderly adults. We evaluated the prevalence of OH syncope and the clinical characteristics of patients older than 65 years with syncope due to OH in the Evaluation of Guidelines in Syncope Study 2 group population.

Methods: Two hundred fifty nine patients older than 65 years consecutively admitted to the emergency department because of loss of consciousness in a period of a month were submitted to a standardized protocol approved by the European Task Force for the diagnosis of syncope; all the patients were studied by a trained physician who interacted with a central supervisor as the management of syncope was concerned, using a decision-making software.

A retrospective study on heat-related mortality in an elderly population during the 2003 heat wave in Modena, Italy: the Argento Project.

Background: Summer 2003 witnessed an excess in heat-related mortality in the elderly population. The Argento Project was planned to define risk factors for heat-related death in Modena, Italy, during the hottest month of 2003 (August).

Methods: We performed a retrospective, case-control study of a cohort of 394 older persons living in Modena, 197 dead (cases) and 197 survivors (controls).