Pamela Seron

Universidad de La Frontera · Departamento de Medicina Interna

Background: Patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) may have impaired exercise capacity and quality of life; this may possibly be due to the early onset of dyspnoea associated with respiratory muscle weakness. Respiratory muscle training could improve the condition of these patients, so this study aimed to determine, through a systematic review a...

Introduction Exercise interventions have a positive impact on people with stroke. However, access to exercise interventions is variable, and there may be a delay in the start of rehabilitation. Telerehabilitation has enabled the delivery of exercise interventions replacing the traditional face-to-face approach. Aspects related to the safety of peop...

Urbanization may influence physical activity (PA) levels, although little evidence is available for low- and middle- income countries where urbanization is occurring fastest. We evaluated associations between urbanization and total PA, as well as work-, leisure-, home-, and transport-specific PA, for 138,206 adults living in 698 communities across...

Research examining built environment (BE) characteristics and walking/cycling behaviors has been conducted primarily in high-income countries and conclusions cannot be applied directly to low- and middle-income countries. We evaluated perceived BE characteristics and walking/cycling behaviors across 355 urban communities in 21 low-, middle-, and hi...

Review question / Objective: To determine effectiveness of antihypertensive drugs to prevent different dementia subtypes such as Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia.

HFNC has become a widely used respiratory support system, which has been shown to have positive effects in different populations. While facilitation of oral communication and feeding have been described as advantages, swallowing disorders have been postulated as potential complications. There are currently different primary studies, using differe...

Our letter aims to comment on the study by Cuenca-Martínez et al "Effects of neural mobilisation on pain intensity, disability and mechanosensitivity: An Umbrella Review with Meta-Meta-Analysis" which was published in April 2022 in the journal Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation (DOI: 10.1093/ptj/pzac040). We postulate that the study results may be b...

Introduction One of the most conflicting methodological issues when conducting an overview is the overlap of primary studies included across systematic reviews (SRs). Overlap in the pooled effect estimates across SRs may lead to overly precise effect estimates in the overview. SRs that focus on exercise-related interventions are often included in o...

Introduction Exercise interventions have a positive impact on people with stroke. However, access to exercise interventions is variable, and there may be a delay in the start of rehabilitation. Telerehabilitation has enabled the delivery of exercise interventions replacing the traditional face-to-face approach. Aspects related to the safety of peop...

Introduction: Lymphoedema associated with breast cancer is caused by an interruption of the lymphatic system, together with factors such as total mastectomy, axillary dissection, positive lymph nodes, radiotherapy, use of taxanes and obesity. Physiotherapy treatment consists of complex decongestive therapy, manual lymphatic drainage and exercises,...

Objective To estimate the effectiveness of Neuromuscular Electrostimulation (NMES) in adults with COPD undergoing MV. Method A sensitive search was performed in MEDLINE, Embase, CENTRAL, CINAHL and other resources. Randomized Controlled Clinical Trials (RCTs) or non-RCTs that enrolled adults with COPD on MV due to an exacerbation of their disease...

Objective To identify, systematically, the interventions based on environmental determinants to improve the nutritional and physical activity (PA) habits available in Colombia. Design A scoping review was performed according to the guidelines of the Joanna Briggs Institute. Study selection All studies about intervention programmes for PA and nutr...

Background There is a paucity of data on the prevalence of risk factors and their associations with incident cardiovascular disease in women compared with men, especially from low-income and middle-income countries. Methods In the Prospective Urban Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study, we enrolled participants from the general population from 21 hig...

Coronary heart disease is the most common cause of death worldwide. Standard cardiac rehabilitation (face-to-face sessions) has shown benefits in increasing muscle strength and functional exercise capacity in adults and older people. However, it is unknown whether hybrid cardiac rehabilitation (a first face-to-face phase + a second remote monitorin...

The coronavirus 19 (COVID-19) pandemic has been one of the most significant challenges to public health in recent decades. The heterogeneity of government responses and the varying preparedness of health systems has determined that the pandemic's impact differs from country to country. Chile is no stranger to the challenges posed by rehabilitation...

This methodological review aims to find out how often strategies for handling overlapping data from primary studies are used across the systematic reviews considered by overviews authors focused on exercise-related interventions in different health conditions. Secondarily, we aim to describe the overlap strategies used, the authors' acknowledgment...

The 2-Minute Step Test (2MST) has been presented as an alternative to the 6-Minute Walk Test (6MWT) based on the association between the two tests in older adults; however, some authors propose that it should not be a substitute but rather a complement to the latter in the fitness evaluation. Specifically, in coronary disease, despite the potential...

Aims: Elevated body mass index (BMI) is an important cause of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The population-level impact of pharmacologic strategies to mitigate the risk of CVD conferred by the metabolic consequences of an elevated BMI is not well described. Methods and results: We conducted an analysis of 145 986 participants (mean age 50 years,...

Background Household air pollution (HAP) from cooking with solid fuels has been associated with adverse respiratory effects, but most studies use surveys of fuel use to define HAP exposure, rather than on actual air pollution exposure measurements. Objective To examine associations between household and personal fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and...

Review question / Objective: 1.-To systematize the available scientific evidence on rehabilitation models and rehabilitation registries systems, which allow for the assessment of people's functioning; 2.-To describe rehabilitation data registries systems used internationally and the "minimum data set" that relate to the functioning of persons. Elig...

Introduction Portable spirometers are commonly used in longitudinal epidemiological studies to measure and track the forced expiratory volume in first second (FEV 1 ) and forced vital capacity (FVC). During the course of the study, it may be necessary to replace spirometers with a different model. This raise questions regarding the comparability of...

Background COVID-19 has caused profound socio-economic changes worldwide. However, internationally comparative data regarding the financial impact on individuals is sparse. Therefore, we conducted a survey of the financial impact of the pandemic on individuals, using an international cohort that has been well-characterized prior to the pandemic. M...

Introduction Use of polluting cooking fuels generates household air pollution (HAP) containing health-damaging levels of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Many global epidemiological studies rely on categorical HAP exposure indicators, which are poor surrogates of measured PM2.5 levels. To quantitatively characterize HAP levels on a large scale, a m...

Introduction: The International Council of Cardiovascular Prevention and Rehabilitation (ICCPR) is developing a registry (ICRR) specifically for low-resource settings, where the burden of cardiovascular diseases is greatest and the need for program development highest. Herein we describe the development process, including the variable selection pro...

Background Final adult height is a useful proxy measure of childhood nutrition and disease burden. Tall stature has been previously associated with decreased risk of all-cause mortality, decreased risk of major cardiovascular events and an increased risk of cancer. However, these associations have primarily been derived from people of European and...

Physical activity behaviour is complex, particularly in low-resource settings, while existing behavioural models of physical activity behaviour are often linear and deterministic. The objective of this review was to (i) synthesise the wide scope of factors that affect physical activity and thereby (ii) underpin the complexity of physical activity i...

Background: Although low levels of physical activity have slightly decreased globally, the need to reverse the physical inactivity remains urgent. One approach has been the installation of outdoor gyms (OGs). Method: A natural experiment arose from the installation of OGs in different neighborhoods of the city of Temuco, Chile. Baseline measurem...

Black Carbon (BC) is an important component of household air pollution (HAP) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), but levels and drivers of exposure are poorly understood. As part of the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiological (PURE) study, we analyzed 48-hour BC measurements for 1187 individual and 2242 household samples from 88 commun...

Background and Aims In the Southern Cone of Latin America, previous studies have shown that blood hypertension is one of the most significant risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and diet plays a fundamental role. We analyzed the cross-sectional relationship between dietary patterns (DP) and blood pressure values in people involved in the CESCAS...

Review question / Objective: The aim of this overview is to determine the effectiveness of non-pharmacological interventions in terms of incidence of delirium, in-hospital mortality, length of hospital stay, and other secondary outcomes, in hospitalized adults. Information sources: The databases to be consulted will be MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane L...

Background Pulmonary transplantation is the final treatment option for people with end‐stage respiratory diseases. Evidence suggests that exercise training may contribute to speeding up physical recovery in adults undergoing lung transplantation, helping to minimize or resolve impairments due to physical inactivity in both the pre‐ and post‐transp...

Introducción. Las personas con Enfermedad Pulmonar Obstructiva Crónica (EPOC) sometidas a ventilación mecánica (VM) presentan alteraciones musculares que derivan en un pobre pronóstico funcional y calidad de vida. La estimulación eléctrica neuromuscular (NMES) durante la conexión del paciente a VM podría constituir un método complementario de rehab...

Importance: Obesity is a growing public health threat leading to serious health consequences. Late bedtime and sleep loss are common in modern society, but their associations with specific obesity types are not well characterized. Objective: To assess whether sleep timing and napping behavior are associated with increased obesity, independent of...

Review question / Objective: Is the application of surface electrical stimulation an effective intervention, in terms of functional independence, muscle strength, duration of mechanical ventilation and other secondary outcomes, in adults with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease requiring mechanical ventilation support?

Background Dietary guidelines recommend limiting red meat intake because it is a major source of medium- and long-chain SFAs and is presumed to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Evidence of an association between unprocessed red meat intake and CVD is inconsistent. Objective The study aimed to assess the association of unprocessed...

An analysis of life expectancy and cause of death in 363 Latin American cities unveils wide differences between cities in the same country, and sheds light on the socioeconomic factors that determine how long people live and how they die.

Objective To examine the association between social isolation and mortality and incident diseases in middle-aged adults in urban and rural communities from high-income, middle-income and low-income countries. Design Population-based prospective observational study. Setting Urban and rural communities in 20 high income, middle income and low incom...

Objective: The purpose of this article was to summarize the available evidence from systematic reviews on telerehabilitation in physical therapy. Methods: Medline/Pubmed, EMBASE and Cochrane Library databases. In addition, the records in PROSPERO and Epistemonikos and PEDro were consulted. Systematic reviews of different conditions, populations...

Background Testing used in screening, diagnosis and follow-up of COVID-19 has been a subject of debate. Several organisations have developed formal advice about testing for COVID-19 to assist in the control of the disease. We collated, delineated and appraised current worldwide recommendations about the role and applications of tests to control SAR...

Introducción: Se ha demostrado que pacientes con hipertensión pulmonar presentan debilidad de la musculatura respiratoria, lo que se asocia a una baja tolerancia al ejercicio físico. El entrenamiento de la musculatura respiratoria podría incrementar su función, lo que podría impactar en menor disnea, aumento de la capacidad de realizar ejercicio y...

Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) is an outpatient model of care for the secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease, which is widely and strongly recommended in international clinical guidelines. The latest update of the Cochrane systematic review on CR for patients with coronary artery disease¹ found that CR is effective in preventing cardiovascular...

Background: Approximately 2·8 billion people are exposed to household air pollution from cooking with polluting fuels. Few monitoring studies have systematically measured health-damaging air pollutant (ie, fine particulate matter [PM2·5] and black carbon) concentrations from a wide range of cooking fuels across diverse populations. This multinatio...

Review question / Objective: What risk factors are associated with loss of physical functioning in critical care patients? Condition being studied: Several studies that have described various risk factors or predisposing factors that would enhance or influence the patient to develop a greater degree of muscle weakness or further functional impairme...

Introduction: Rehabilitation and physical therapy have been adapting to the telehealth era, increasing accessibility and improving the continuity of attention in geographically remote populations with disabilities. Due to the spread of infection by SARS-CoV-2, many professionals have had to adapt their work to telerehabilitation practices, which re...

Importance Depression is associated with incidence of and premature death from cardiovascular disease (CVD) and cancer in high-income countries, but it is not known whether this is true in low- and middle-income countries and in urban areas, where most people with depression now live. Objective To identify any associations between depressive sympt...

Background Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are the leading cause of death globally. In 2014, the United Nations committed to reducing premature mortality from NCDs, including by reducing the burden of healthcare costs. Since 2014, the Prospective Urban and Rural Epidemiology (PURE) Study has been collecting health expenditure data from households...

Background: Eggs are a rich source of essential nutrients, but they are also a source of dietary cholesterol. Therefore, some guidelines recommend limiting egg consumption. However, there is contradictory evidence on the impact of eggs on diseases, largely based on studies conducted in high-income countries. Objectives: Our aim was to assess the...

Introduction: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) programmes are well established, and their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness are proven. In spite of this, CR remains underused, especially in lower-resource settings such as Latin America. There is an urgent need to create more accessible CR delivery models to reach all patients in need. This trial aim...

Introduction: The aim of this study was to analyze the association between neighborhood environment and the objective measures of physical activity (PA) according to nutritional status in the adult population. Methods: A cross-sectional study design was employed. The information was collected from 161 representative subjects of the CESCAS study pop...

Introduction: Switching from polluting (e.g. wood, crop waste, coal) to clean cooking fuels (e.g. gas, electricity) can reduce household air pollution (HAP) exposures and climate-forcing emissions. While studies have evaluated specific interventions and assessed fuel-switching in repeated cross-sectional surveys, the role of different multilevel f...

s: This is a Document from de Chilean Society of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery, along with the Chilean Society of Physical Therapy of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery.

Introduction: Ankle instability often seen in people who have suffered repeated ankle sprains. Kinesio Tape is a technique widely applied in recent years, despite not having enough evidence to support its application. Objetive: To determine the functional effectiveness of Kinesio Tape in individuals with ankle instability. Design: Systematic r...

Aims: To investigate the association of estimated total daily sleep duration and daytime nap duration with deaths and major cardiovascular events. Methods and results: We estimated the durations of total daily sleep and daytime naps based on the amount of time in bed and self-reported napping time and examined the associations between them and t...

Objectives: The objective is to describe hypertension (HTN) prevalence, awareness, treatment and control in urban and rural communities in Latin America to inform public and policy-makers. Methods: Cross-sectional analysis from urban (n = 111) and rural (n = 93) communities including 33 276 participants from six Latin American countries (Argenti...

Antecedentes: La Rehabilitación Cardíaca disminuye las complicaciones de la cirugía cardíaca y es mundialmente reconocida. A pesar de esto, en Chile su desarrollo ha sido lento y el reporte de experiencias bajo. Objetivo: Describir la progresión de acuerdo los pasos de rehabilitación y días postoperatorios en pacientes de rehabilitación cardíaca f...

This is a protocol for a Cochrane Review (Diagnostic test accuracy). The objectives are as follows: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of the Confusion Assessment Method for the Intensive Care Unit (CAM-ICU) for the diagnosis of delirium in adult patients in critical care settings.

Purpose: To assess the cost-effectiveness of 3 models of exercise-based cardiac rehabilitation (CR) compared with standard care in survivors of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) within the public health system in Chile. Methods: A Markov model was designed using 5 health states: ACS survivor, second ACS, complications, general mortality, and cardiov...

Objective: The American Heart Association developed the concept of 'Ideal Cardiovascular Health', which is based on the presence of ideal levels across seven health factors. The goal of this study is to assess the prevalence of Ideal Cardiovascular Health in the Southern Cone of Latin America. Study design: We conducted a cross-sectional analysi...

Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death worldwide. The study aimed to determine and compare the prevalence of COPD in the general population aged 45-74 years old according to fixed ratio and lower limit of normal (LLN) thresholds in four cities in the Southern Cone of Latin America. Methods:...