[Usefulness of a geriatric intervention program in the improvement of drug treatment for institutionalised patients].

Obejectives: To determine the prevalence of polypharmacy, and inadequate or suboptimal prescriptions. To analyse the impact of a geriatric intervention program on the optimisation and rationalisation of the use of drugs in institutionalised patients.

Material And Methods: A prospective study on a cohort of 21 sheltered subjects.

[Strongyloides stercoralis infestation in an immunocompetent 82-year-old woman].

A laboratory finding of eosinophilia in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms should prompt the differential diagnosis of a parasitosis. The diagnosis is based on identification of larvae in three different stool samples. We report the case of an 82-year-old woman who was independent for instrumental and advanced activities of daily living and showed no risk factors for strongyloidiasis who was admitted to our service with diarrhoea and abdominal pain.

[Risk factors associated with functional impairment at discharge and at three months after discharge in elderly individuals hospitalized for heart failure].

Objective: To determine the characteristics of elderly persons hospitalized for congestive heart failure and identify the factors associated with functional impairment or death at discharge and 3 months later.

Material And Methods: We performed a prospective observational study that included 162 patients admitted to an Acute Geriatric Care Unit with a diagnosis of heart failure from February to July 2007. Socio-demographic, clinical, functional and cognitive factors were recorded during admission.