Effectiveness of the 23-Valent Pneumococcal Polysaccharide Vaccine (PPV23) in Preventing Community-Acquired Pneumonia in Adults: A Population-Based Cohort Study.

Aim: The aim was to assess the effectiveness of 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23) in preventing CAP in adults.

Methods: This was a population-based cohort study, followed up over 5 years (2015-2019), that included 47,768 persons aged ≥18 years assigned to three primary care centres. Data were retrospectively obtained from electronic medical records and databases.

Frailty trends in Catalonia 2017-2021: An epidemiological study with 1.5 million people aged ≥65 years.

Objectives: Knowledge of frailty prevalence and incidence trends over time is essential for planning the necessary health and social resources. The objective of this study was to assess frailty prevalence, incidence, reversibility and mortality rates, and trends for the population aged ≥65 years in Catalonia over the period 2017-2021.

Study Design: Longitudinal epidemiological study.

Health inequalities and their relationship with socioeconomic indicators in the Maresme region (Catalonia): A cross-sectional ecological study.

Objective: Health inequalities are universal, but their magnitude and determinants vary according to geographic areas, and understanding variations is essential to designing and implementing preventive and corrective policies. Our objective was to evaluate health inequalities in the Maresme region (Catalonia, Spain) and the relationship with socioeconomic indicators.

Design: Cross-sectional ecological study (2017).

Telerehabilitation improves cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness and body composition in older people with post-COVID-19 syndrome.

Background: The effects of post-coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) syndrome on the cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness in older people are of utmost relevance. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of a 12-week telerehabilitation programme on cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness and body composition in older patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome.

Methods: One hundred twenty older patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome were randomly assigned to one of two groups: patients who carried out the telerehabilitation programme (n = 60; age: 65.

Validation of the nutritrauma concept for the detection of potential harmful effects of medical nutritional treatment in critically ill patients in real life.

Introduction: medical nutritional treatment (MNT) can be complex and may be associated with potential metabolic complications, which has been recently described as nutritrauma. Objective: the aim of our work is to describe whether the application of the nutritrauma concept in real life is feasible and useful to detect the metabolic complications associated with the prescription of MNT. Material and methods: in this descriptive, prospective study at a single center we enrolled 30 consecutive critically ill patients in a 14-bed medical-surgical intensive care unit.

[Effect of frailty in health resource use in aged cancer patients].

Objective: To evaluate the effect of frailty on health resource use in aged population with cancer.

Method: Population-based cohort study with retrospective data collection and follow-up from January 2018 to December 2019 in people ≥65 years with cancer.

Results: Overall, 996 individuals were included, with a prevalence of frailty of 22.

Effect of different types of supervised exercise programs on cardiorespiratory and muscular fitness, pain, fatigue, mental health and inflammatory and oxidative stress biomarkers in older patients with post-COVID-19 sequelae "EJerSA-COVID-19": a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Many patients with COVID-19 present the so-called post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 such as fatigue, post-stress discomfort, dyspnea, headache, pain mental impairment, incapacity to perform daily physical tasks ant exercise intolerance. This study aims to investigate the effects of different exercise programs on physical and mental fitness, physical condition and biomarkers of the immune system and oxidative stress in older patients with post-COVID-19 sequelae.

Methods: The sample will be made up of 120 eligible participants, over the age of 60 years who have had COVID-19 disease and are survivors and present persistent COVID-19 symptomatology diagnosed by the corresponding physician.

Economic Evaluation of Clinical, Nutritional and Rehabilitation Interventions on Oropharyngeal Dysphagia after Stroke: A Systematic Review.

Background: Post-stroke oropharyngeal dysphagia (PS-OD) and its complications increase healthcare costs, suggesting that its appropriate management is cost-effective. We aimed to assess the efficiency of healthcare interventions in PS-OD management.

Methods: A systematic review was conducted following PRISMA recommendations.

Development and validation of the electronic screening index of frailty.

Background: primary care screening for frailty status is recommended in clinical guidelines, but is impeded by doctor and nurse workloads and the lack of valid, easy-to-use and time-saving screening tools.

Aim: to develop and validate a new electronic tool (the electronic screening index of frailty, e-SIF) using routinely available electronic health data to automatically and massively identify frailty status in the population aged ≥65 years.

Methods: the e-SIF was developed in three steps: selection of clinical conditions; establishment of ICD-10 codes, criteria and algorithms for their definition; and electronic tool design and data extraction, transformation and load processes.

Economic evaluations of health care interventions in oropharyngeal dysphagia after stroke: protocol for a systematic review.

Background And Purpose: Oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) affects 40-81% of patients after stroke. A recent systematic review on the costs of OD and its main complications showed higher acute and long-term costs for those patients who developed OD, malnutrition and pneumonia after stroke. These results suggest that appropriate management of post-stroke OD could reduce clinical complications and costs.

Depressive symptom severity is a major risk factor for frailty in community-dwelling older adults with depression. A prospective study.

Background: Depression and frailty are closely related, but the mechanisms by which depressed older adults are at an increased risk of becoming frail are still not well understood.

Aim: To assess socioeconomic and depression-related risk factors for frailty in older adults with depression.

Methods: Observational and prospective cohort study, with 12-month follow-up, of nonfrail community-dwelling subjects aged ≥70 years old with depression.

A Systematic and a Scoping Review on the Psychometrics and Clinical Utility of the Volume-Viscosity Swallow Test (V-VST) in the Clinical Screening and Assessment of Oropharyngeal Dysphagia.

(1) Background: The volume-viscosity swallow test (V-VST) is a clinical tool for screening and diagnosis of oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD). Our aims were to examine the clinical utility of the V-VST against videofluoroscopy (VFS) or fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallow (FEES) and to map the V-VST usage with patients at risk of OD across the years since it was described for the first time, carrying a systematic and a scoping review. (2) Methods: We performed both a systematic review (SR) including studies that look at the diagnostic test accuracy, and a scoping review (ScR) with articles published from September 2008 to May 2020.

Functional Constipation in Older Adults: Prevalence, Clinical Symptoms and Subtypes, Association with Frailty, and Impact on Quality of Life.

Introduction: Functional constipation (FC) is very prevalent in older adults, especially in women, but its relationship with frailty is not fully understood. The aims were to assess FC prevalence, clinical symptoms and subtypes, association with frailty, and impact on quality of life (QoL) in older people.

Methods: This epidemiological study included 384 individuals aged over 70 years recruited from the community, a hospital, and a nursing home and stratified into robust, pre-frail, and frail groups (Fried criteria).

Healthcare costs of post-stroke oropharyngeal dysphagia and its complications: malnutrition and respiratory infections.

Background And Purpose: The healthcare economic costs of post-stroke oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) are not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to assess the acute, subacute and long-term costs related to post-stroke OD and its main complications (malnutrition and respiratory infections).

Methods: A cost of illness study of patients admitted to Mataró Hospital (Catalonia, Spain) from May 2010 to September 2014 with a stroke diagnosis was performed.

Psychosocial factors associated with frailty in the community-dwelling aged population with depression. A cross-sectional study.

Objective: There is a two-way relationship between frailty and depression, but the mechanisms by which one may influence the other are not well understood. The objective of this study was to evaluate the relationship between psychosocial factors and frailty in community-dwelling aged populations with depression.

Design: Observational cross-sectional study.

The Experience of COPD Patients in Lockdown Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Purpose: On March 16, 2020, the Spanish government declared a state of alarm due to the rapid spread of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) were restricted to remain confined at home, and medical visits were cancelled for 3 months. The impact of this lockdown on the manifestations of COPD and the quality-of-life of these patients has not been explored.

Healthcare-related cost of oropharyngeal dysphagia and its complications pneumonia and malnutrition after stroke: a systematic review.

Objectives: To assess the healthcare costs associated with poststroke oropharyngeal dysphagia (OD) and its complications (malnutrition, dehydration, pneumonia and death).

Design: Systematic review following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses recommendations.

Data Sources: MEDLINE, Embase and the National Health Service Economic Evaluation Database were searched up to 31 December 2019.

Intracellular Water Content in Lean Mass as an Indicator of Muscle Quality in an Older Obese Population.

Background: In aged populations, muscle strength depends more on muscle quality than on muscle quantity, while all three are criteria for the diagnosis of sarcopenia. Intracellular water content (ICW) in lean mass (LM) has been proposed as an indicator of muscle quality related to muscle strength in older people.

Objectives: To evaluate the relationship between the ICW/LM ratio, muscle strength and indicators of functional performance in obese older adults, and to assess the value of the ICW/LM ratio as an indicator of muscle quality.

The Role of Water Homeostasis in Muscle Function and Frailty: A Review.

Water, the main component of the body, is distributed in the extracellular and intracellular compartments. Water exchange between these compartments is mainly governed by osmotic pressure. Extracellular water osmolarity must remain within very narrow limits to be compatible with life.