Perez Bazán Laura Mónica

Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili · Geriatrics

Background: The “AGIL Barcelona (AGILBcn)” community-based integrated care program is a multicomponent healthy aging intervention for frail older adults. In this context, the present study aimed to identify implementation strategies to optimize the accessibility, acceptability, and adaptability of mobile health (mhealth) interventions to enhance ph...

Background: regular physical exercise is essential to maintain or improve functional capacity in older adults. Multimorbidity, functional limitation, social barriers and currently, coronavirus disease of 2019, among others, have increased the need for home-based exercise (HBE) programmes and digital health interventions (DHI). Our objective was to...

Objectives To describe the evolution of a Hospital at Home (HAH) based on comprehensive geriatric assessment (CGA), including its adaptability to changing case-mixes and pathways during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design Observational study of consecutive admissions to a combined step-up (admissions from home) and step-down (hospital discharge) HAH dur...

Background This study identifies correlates of the lockdown’s psychological distress in frail older community-dwellers (Catalonia, Spain). Methods Participants from a community frailty intervention program, with a comprehensive geriatric assessment within the 12-months pre-lockdown and COVID-19 free during the first pandemic wave (March–May 2020),...

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected older adults and brought about unprecedented challenges to geriatricians. We aimed to evaluate the experiences of early career geriatricians (residents or consultants with up to 10 years of experience) throughout Europe using an online survey. We obtained 721 responses. Most of the respondents were female...

We read with interest the article by Blancafort et al. [...]

Sleep disturbances are prevalent among older adults and are associated with various individual diseases. The goal of this study was to investigate whether sleep disturbances are associated with the speed of multimorbidity development among older adults. Data were gathered from the Swedish National study of Aging and Care in Kungsholmen (SNAC-K), an...

Background: Rehabilitation is still the only treatment available to improve functional status after the acute phase of stroke. Most clinical guidelines highlight the need to design rehabilitation treatments considering starting time, intensity, and frequency, according to the tolerance of the patient. However, there are no homogeneous protocols and...

Due to the dramatic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, Spain underwent a strict lockdown (March–May 2020). How the lockdown modified older adults’ physical activity (PA) has been poorly described. This research assesses the effect of the lockdown on PA levels and identifies predictors of sufficient/insufficient PA in frail older community-dwellers. C...

Background Sleep disturbances are prevalent among older adults and are associated with various individual diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate whether sleep disturbances are associated with the speed of multimorbidity development among older adults. Methods Data were gathered from the Swedish National study of Aging and Care in Kungs...

Background: Rehabilitation pathways are crucial to reduce stroke-related disability. Motivational Interviewing (MI), as a person-centered complex intervention, aimed to empower and motivate, and could be a resource to improve rehabilitation outcomes for older stroke survivors. The IMAGINE project aims to assess the impact of MI, as a complement to...

PurposeThis article aims to analyze the intersections between delirium, physical exercise and rehabilitation, to better understand their interrelation and to visualize future lines of research.Methods In this narrative review, after an overview of brain neurophysiology and function, as common substrates to understand the relationship between deliri...

The integrity of the frontal areas of the brain, specifically the prefrontal cortex, are critical to preserve cognition and mobility in late life. Prefrontal cortex regions are involved in executive functions and gait control and have been related to the performance of dual-tasks. Dual-task performance assessment may help identify older adults at r...

Introduction: La transición entre servicios asistenciales incrementa la vulnerabilidad de las personas mayores con comorbilidad y necesidades complejas. En nuestro hospital, estos pacientes reciben un servicio especial de atención a las transiciones para empoderarlos y mejorar la coordinación asistencial. Description: Equipo multidisciplinar, lider...

Introduction: Frailty is a dynamic state of increased risk of disability and worse health outcomes in older adults. Frailty represents a critical phase of declining capacity associated with aging, which might range from an early decline to advanced stages. In this line, the WHO promoted a positive view of aging as a life-course process of developin...

Background: Deterioration of balance is one of the most common and disabling physical-motor deficits in patients after a stroke that have a negative impact on quality of life and increase the risk of falls. Previous studies have evaluated the effectiveness of the exercises on specific aspects of balance. However, there is no structured exercise pr...

Objectives To assess the 3-month impact on physical function of a program for community-dwelling frail older adults, based on the integration of primary care, geriatric medicine, and community resources, implemented in “real life”. Design Interventional cohort study. Setting Primary care in Barcelona, Spain. Participants Individuals aged ≥80 yea...

Exercise is a form of physical activity (PA). PA is an important marker of health and quality of life in older adults. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature to assess the effect of exercise-based interventions on an at least six-month follow up PA measure, and to describe the specific strategies implemented...

Background: Neurologic gait abnormalities (NGA) increase risk for falls and dementia, but their pathophysiologic substrates or association with disability have been poorly investigated. We evaluated the association of NGA with clinical characteristics and functional status in older community-dwellers. Methods: Gait characteristics were measured...

The dysfunction of frontal and prefrontal brain regions has an impact on cognitive function, gait and disability. Emerging neuroimaging techniques, such as optical measures with Near Infrared and Diffuse Correlation Spectroscopy (which are non-invasive, relatively cheap and allow measures during motion) might shed light about prefrontal cortex (PFC...

We aimed to investigate the association between baseline levels of total serum glutathione (tGSH) and rate of chronic disease accumulation over time. The study population (n=2596) was derived from a population-based longitudinal study on ≥60-year-olds living in Stockholm. Participants were clinically assessed at baseline, three- and six-year follow...

Background Falls in the elderly increase morbidity, affect quality of life and increase healthcare costs. Several pharmacological groups have been associated with falls, which are grouped as ‘Fall Risk Increasing Drugs’ (FRIDs). Despite awareness of the risk, the prescription of FRIDs is highly prevalent. Purpose To assess prescription patterns in...

Background The Pittsburgh Fatigability Scale (PFS) is the only validated scale for measuring perceived fatigability in older adults. AimsWe validated the PFS Spanish version by assessing convergent validity with respect to several measures of physical performance, physical activity, physical function and disability. MethodsA cross-sectional validat...

Objective: Evidence about the role of nutritional status (NS) on functional outcomes (FO) after rehabilitation in older adults is scarce. Our aim was to analyze the association between NS and FO in older adults admitted to geriatric rehabilitation units. Methods: The Sarcopenia And Function in Aging Rehabilitation (SAFARI) multicenter study enrolle...

Vitamin D (25(OH)D) deficiency is associated with poor physical performance; little is known about its impact on geriatric rehabilitation. We found a positive non-linear relationship between 25(OH)D and functional gain, stronger in levels < 16 ng/ml (below the cutoff for “deficiency”). An early 25(OH)D dosage may be advisable for this population....

While the link between homocysteine blood levels and individual cardiovascular diseases is well established, little is known about the role of other sulfur-amino acids involved in the homocysteine metabolism cycle, and there is currently no evidence on the impact of these biomarkers on cardiovascular multimorbidity development. Based on data from t...

Low levels of glutathione have been linked to the incidence of specific chronic conditions, but little is known about the relationship between low levels of this antioxidant and multimorbidity. We aimed to investigate the association between baseline levels of total serum glutathione (tGSH) and rate of chronic disease accumulation. Our study popula...

Frailty is a dynamic state of increased risk of disability and worse health outcomes in older adults, generating an important burden on healthcare systems. We aimed to assess the pre-post impact of +AgilBCN, a running implementation program of integrated geriatrics and primary care to manage frail older adults in the community, based on reorganizat...

Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in older people, and it is associated with poor muscular strength and physical performance. Its impact on functional outcomes during geriatric rehabilitation has been poorly studied. We aimed to analyse the association between vitamin D and functional recovery in geriatric rehabilitation units. We conducted...

Current literature supports that cognitive function and physical performance are associated. Gait is more often evaluated on a straight walkway. F8WT, involving straight and curved walking to walk a figure-of-8 around two cones, might challenge cognitive function. Our aim was to assess the relationship between physical and cognitive function (speci...

Background: Frailty is highly prevalent in older persons and associated with negative health-related events and costs. Despite successful clinical trials, translation of evidence into implementation of dedicated programs has been scarce. This is probably due to funding limitations and lack of generalizability of rigid schemes adopted in controlled...

Background Frailty-related characteristics, such as sarcopenia, malnutrition and cognitive impairment, are often overlooked, both in clinical practice and research, as potential contributors to functional recovery during geriatric rehabilitation. Objective The aim of the study was to identify frailty-related characteristics associated with function...

Background: Delirium research is poorly studied in postacute care, a growing setting due to aging populations, as well as in dementia, a critical risk factor for delirium and particularly prevalent in postacute care. We investigated risk factors for delirium and its outcomes in older adults with and without dementia admitted to a subacute care uni...

Frailty-related characteristics, such as sarcopenia, malnutrition and cognitive impairment, are often overlooked, both in practice and research, as potential contributors to functional recovery in patients admitted to geriatrics rehabilitation units. We evaluated the association of these characteristics with functional improvement using data from a...

Background Stroke is a major cause of disability in older adults, but the evidence around post-acute treatment is limited and heterogeneous. We aimed to identify profiles of older adult stroke survivors admitted to intermediate care geriatric rehabilitation units. Methods We performed a cohort study, enrolling stroke survivors aged 65 years or old...

Post-stroke older adults admitted to intermediate care units in Catalonia during 2010. (XLS)

Recovery after a stroke is determined by a broad range of neurological, functional and psychosocial factors. Evidence regarding these factors is not well established, in particular influence of cognition changes during rehabilitation. We aimed to investigate whether selective characteristics, including cognitive performance and its change over time...

To assess the relationship between the parameters obtained in the geriatric assessment and mortality in elderly people with community-acquired pneumonia in an acute care geriatric unit. Four hundred fifty-six patients (≥75years). Variables: age, sex, referral source, background, consciousness level, heart rate, breathing rate, blood pressure, labor...

Introduction To assess the relationship between the parameters obtained in the geriatric assessment and mortality in elderly people with community-acquired pneumonia in an acute care geriatric unit. Methods Four hundred fifty-six patients (≥ 75 years). Variables: age, sex, referral source, background, consciousness level, heart rate, breathing rat...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a degenerative, chronic and irreversible condition. Palliative medicine may play an important role in the care of patients with PD to maintain the quality of life. Scopolamine is a non-competitive antagonist at muscarinic acetylcholine receptors, which was used many years ago in the treatment for PD. To the best of our k...

Las infecciones intrahospitalarias (IIH) constituyen un gran problema de salud pública, no solo por su alta frecuencia, sino por sus consecuencias que se traducen en términos de morbi-mortalidad, aumento de costos y prolongación de estancia hospitalaria. Objetivo: El objetivo del estudio fue determinar la frecuencia de ITU-IH en los servicios de ho...