Transitions between degrees of multidimensional frailty among older people admitted to intermediate care: a multicentre prospective study.

Background: Frailty is a dynamic condition that is clinically expected to change in older individuals during and around admission to an intermediate care (IC) facility. We aimed to characterize transitions between degrees of frailty before, during, and after admission to IC and assess the impact of these transitions on health outcomes.

Methods: Multicentre observational prospective study in IC facilities in Catalonia (North-east Spain).

Optimizing drug therapy in frail patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is closely linked with ageing. In frail diabetic patients, the risks of intensive antidiabetic therapy outweigh the potential benefits.

Aims: To study the prevalence of T2DM in frail elderly patients, to identify inappropriate prescription (IP) of antidiabetic drugs and to study the relationship between patients' frailty index (FI) with polypharmacy and IP.

Frail-VIG index: a concise frailty evaluation tool for rapid geriatric assessment.

Background: Demographic changes have led to an increase in the number of elderly frail persons and, consequently, systematic geriatric assessment is more important than ever. Frailty Indexes (FI) may be particularly useful to discriminate between various degrees of frailty but are not routinely assessed due, at least in part, to the large number of deficits assessed (from 30 to 70). Therefore, we have developed a new, more concise FI for rapid geriatric assessment (RGA)-the Frail-VIG index ("VIG" is the Spanish/Catalan abbreviation for Comprehensive Geriatric Assessment), which contains 22 simple questions that assess 25 different deficits.

Risk factors for functional decline in a population aged 75 years and older without total dependence: A one-year follow-up.

Objectives: estimation of functional loss incidence and identification of risk factors associated with new disability onset in people aged 75 and older without severe dependence in a rural primary care setting.

Patients And Method: Prospective cohort study of a representative sample of people aged 75 years or older without severe dependence (Barthel Index>20 and Lawton Index>1) at a primary care center, with a 12-month follow-up. The baseline geriatric assessment recorded activities of daily living (ADL), sociodemographic information, numbers of drugs prescribed, previous hospital admissions and falls, cognitive function, hearing and visual capacity, body mass index, blood pressure, and the Short Physical Performance Battery to evaluate lower limb function.

Carotid artery stenting without angioplasty and cerebral protection: a single-center experience with up to 7 years' follow-up.

Background And Purpose: The use of cerebral protection during CAS in the treatment of carotid artery disease is matter of controversy. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the outcome of CASWBAP in a large cohort of patients, with ≤7 years' follow-up.

Materials And Methods: Two hundred thirty-six patients with 255 symptomatic carotid stenoses and/or with high-risk-morphology plaques of >50% and asymptomatic plaques of >70% were prospectively identified.

Endovascular management of a spontaneous dissecting aneurysm of the superior mesenteric artery: case report and discussion of treatment options.

Spontaneous dissection of the superior mesenteric artery represents a rare cause of abdominal angina. Conservative or more aggressive treatments such as surgery or endovascular therapy depend on the symptoms. We present a case report of acute mesenteric ischemia due to spontaneous dissection of the superior mesenteric artery successfully treated by endovascular stent placement.

Stent-assisted coil embolization of a wide-neck aneurysm of a persistent primitive hypoglossal artery.

Persistent primitive hypoglossal artery (PPHA) represents the second most common carotid-vertebrobasilar anastomosis. The association of PPHA with intracranial aneurysms is not unusual. Treatment of aneurysms located on the PPHA itself is challenging due to the increased risk of ischemic complications secondary to the hypoglossal artery often being the sole contributor of flow to the posterior circulation.

Carotid stenting without use of balloon angioplasty and distal protection devices: preliminary experience in 100 cases.

Background And Purpose: A major concern during carotid artery stent placement is the potential for cerebral embolism. Diminishing the number of device manipulations across the lesion might reduce procedural stroke risk. For this purpose, we report our initial experience with carotid stent placement without the use of either balloon angioplasty or distal protection devices.

Time-dependent prognostic factors of 6-month mortality in frail elderly patients admitted to post-acute care.

Objective: To determine the association between functional and nutritional changes caused by an acute illness requiring hospitalisation and 6-month mortality.

Design: Hospital-based prospective longitudinal cohort study.

Setting: Acute care centre (Hospital General de Vic, Barcelona Province, Spain).