Evaluating patients' satisfaction and preferences with a secondary prevention cardiovascular polypill: the Aurora Study.

To evaluate the satisfaction, preferences and adherence of patients in secondary cardiovascular prevention treated with the Spanish National Cardiovascular Research Centre cardiovascular polypill compared with patients treated with the separate monocomponents. Observational, cross-sectional and multicenter study. Satisfaction was evaluated by the Treatment Satisfaction Questionnaire for Medication 9 items, adherence by the Morisky-Green questionnaire and questions were asked regarding patient preferences.

Oral anticoagulation in patients with atrial fibrillation and medical non-neoplastic disease in a terminal stage.

Many patients with non-neoplastic disease develop atrial fibrillation in advanced stages of their disease. The aim of this study is to determine the factors associated with the use of oral anticoagulants in patients with atrial fibrillation and non-neoplastic medical disease in a terminal stage, and whether their use is associated with a longer survival. Design is prospective, observational, multicentre study.

Ferric carboxymaltose with or without erythropoietin in anemic patients with hip fracture: a randomized clinical trial.

Background: The increasing incidence of osteoporotic hip fracture (HF) has raised the requirements of red blood cell (RBC) transfusions, whereas this scarce resource may cause morbidity and mortality.

Study Design And Methods: This study was a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, clinical trial that aimed to assess efficacy of ferric carboxymaltose (FCM) with or without erythropoietin (EPO) in reducing RBC transfusion in the perioperative period of HF. Participants (patients > 65 years admitted with HF and hemoglobin [Hb] levels of 90-120 g/L) were randomly assigned to receive a preoperative single dose of 1 g of FCM (short intravenous [IV] infusion over 15 min), plus 40,000 IU of subcutaneous EPO (EPOFE arm); versus 1 g of IV FCM plus subcutaneous placebo (FE arm); and versus IV and subcutaneous placebo (placebo arm).

[Drug prescription profile in patients with advanced chronic diseases].

Objectives: To analyze the prescription profile and the factors associated with multiple medications (polypharmacy) and non-adherence in patients with advanced chronic diseases.

Material And Methods: Longitudinal cross-sectional study including 41 Spanish hospitals (PALIAR project). Polypharmacy was defined as a prescribed treatment with five or more drugs, and excessive polypharmacy when the number was ten or more.

Development of a six-month prognostic index in patients with advanced chronic medical conditions: the PALIAR score.

Context: Efforts in developing useful tools to properly identify the end-of-life trajectory of patients with advanced medical diseases have been made, but the calibration and/or discriminative power of these tools has not been optimal.

Objectives: Our objective was to develop a new, reliable prognostic tool to identify the probability of death within six months in patients with chronic medical diseases.

Methods: This was a multicenter, prospective, observational study in 41 Spanish hospitals, which included 1778 patients with one or more of the following: advanced conditions such as heart failure, respiratory failure, chronic renal failure, chronic liver disease, and/or chronic neurological disease.

Reliability of a short questionnaire for the diagnosis of severe disability in polypathological patients attended in hospital setting.

Background: A comprehensive evaluation of polypathological patients (PP) should always include a functional evaluation. For this purpose, a modified version of the Barthel Index (BI) is the most applied questionnaire, and it consists of a 10-variable scale. The aim of this study was to develop a screening and confirmation tool to diagnose high disability with the fewest number of dimensions of the BI as possible.

[Anticoagulation in polypathological patients with atrial fibrillation].

Background And Objectives: To determine the use of oral anticoagulants in polypathological patients with atrial fibrillation and its influence on mortality and loss of functionality.

Patients And Methods: Patients with polypathological patient criteria and atrial fibrillation were included in an observational, prospective and multicenter study. Data on demographic, clinical, functional and sociofamilial characteristics, CHADS2 score, levels of hemoglobin, albumin and creatinine, use of oral anticoagulants and survival and functional status at one year were collected.

Ferric carboxymaltose with or without erythropoietin for the prevention of red-cell transfusions in the perioperative period of osteoporotic hip fractures: a randomized contolled trial. The PAHFRAC-01 project.

Background: Around one third to one half of patients with hip fractures require red-cell pack transfusion. The increasing incidence of hip fracture has also raised the need for this scarce resource. Additionally, red-cell pack transfusions are not without complications which may involve excessive morbidity and mortality.

Effects of renin-angiotensin blockers/inhibitors and statins on mortality and functional impairment in polypathological patients.

Background: Frail and polypathological patients (PP) are often undertreated with evidence-based cardiovascular drugs, as their benefits are uncertain in this population.

Objectives: To determine the effects of treatment with renin-angiotensin system blockers/inhibitors (ACEI/ARB), statins and/or beta-blockers on survival rates and functional decline in PP with evidence-based clinical indications for treatment with any of these drug families.

Method: Prospective observational multicentre cohort study with a 12-month follow-up period.

[Reliability of different criteria in identifying end-of-life trajectory of patients with chronic medical diseases. PALIAR Project].

Introduction: It is a challenge to reliably identify the end-of-life trajectory in patients with advanced-stage chronic medical conditions. This makes advanced supportive care planning and transition from survival to comfort objectives more difficult in these emergent patient populations.

Objectives: To evaluate the sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), positive predictive values (PPV) and negative (NPV), and validity index (IV) of NHO criteria for terminal medical conditions, PPI and ECOG in patients with advanced heart, lung, liver, kidney and/or neurological diseases, and to build and validate an accurate index to determine this border-line.

[Clinical experience with levosimendan in the emergency department of a tertiary care hospital].

The efficacy and safety of levosimendan administration in patients with acute heart failure admitted to intensive care units has been well established. However, no information is available on the drug's beneficial effects in emergency departments. We studied 40 patients with acute heart failure who showed no or only partial improvement after conventional treatment and who received levosimendan during the period 2005-2006.