Prognostic Indicators of 6-Month Mortality in Elderly People With Advanced Dementia: A Systematic Review.

Prognostic indicators of 6-month mortality in elderly people with advanced dementia: A systematic review.

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Palliat Med. 2012 Nov 22;
Brown MA, Sampson EL, Jones L, Barron AM

Background:For end-of-life dementia patients, palliative care offers a better quality of life than continued aggressive or burdensome medical interventions. To provide the best care options to dementia sufferers, validated, reliable, sensitive, and accurate prognostic tools to identify end-of-life dementia stages are necessary.Aim:To identify accurate prognosticators of mortality in elderly advanced dementia patients consistently reported in the literature.Design:Systematic literature review.Data sources:PubMed, Embase, and PsycINFO databases were searched up to September 2012. Reference lists of included studies were also searched. Inclusion criteria were studies measuring factors specifically related to 6-month outcome in patients diagnosed with dementia in any residential or health-care setting.Results:Seven studies met the inclusion criteria, five of which were set in the United States and two in Israel. Methodology and prognostic outcomes varied greatly between the studies. All but one study found that Functional Assessment Staging phase 7c, currently widely used to assess hospice admission eligibility in the United States, was not a reliable predictor of 6-month mortality. The most common prognostic variables identified related to nutrition/nourishment, or eating habits, followed by increased risk on dementia severity scales and comorbidities.Conclusions:Although the majority of studies agreed that the Functional Assessment Staging 7c criterion was not a reliable predictor of 6-month mortality, we found a lack of prognosticator concordance across the literature. Further studies are essential to identify reliable, sensitive, and specific prognosticators, which can be applied to the clinical setting and allow increased availability of palliative care to dementia patients.
HubMed – eating

 

[Influence of the nutritional status in the risk of eating disorders among female university students of nutrition: eating patterns and nutritional status].

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Cien Saude Colet. 2012 Dec; 17(12): 3399-406
Silva JD, Silva AB, Oliveira AV, Nemer AS

The scope of this paper was to evaluate the relationship between changes in eating behavior associated with dissatisfaction with body image, and the nutritional status of female university students of nutrition. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 175 female students of nutrition (ENUT/UFOP). The Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) and Body Shape Questionnaire (BSQ) were applied and anthropometric measurements were taken. 21.7% of the students were found to be high risk in terms of eating disorders, and 13.7% declared dissatisfaction with their body image. The majority of students with positive results in the BSQ and EAT-26 tests were eutrophic. The students who were overweight, with elevated body fat percentage (% BF) and waist circumference (WC) had a 5-9 times greater risk of change in eating habits. There was a positive association between the anthropometric parameters with high scores in the EAT-26 and BSQ questionnaires. The future dietitians who are overweight, with increased body fat and waist circumference were more likely to be dissatisfied with their body image and develop eating disorders. The use of other anthropometric parameters, in addition to BMI, may prove useful in screening individuals susceptible to the emergence of excessive concerns with weight and diet.
HubMed – eating

 

[Beliefs and behavior patterns of individuals with coronary artery disease].

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Cien Saude Colet. 2012 Dec; 17(12): 3371-83
Gama GG, Mussi FC, Pires CG, Guimarães AC

The study described beliefs and behavior patterns related to causes and control measures of coronary artery disease (CAD). A hundred adults in an outpatient clinic in Salvador in the state of Bahia were interviewed. The results were analyzed via the qualitative analysis technique. It predominantly involved married and unemployed black men, aged <60 years, with low schooling and income. The average beliefs on the cause of CAD was 1.53 per participant and blamed behavioral, biological, relational and religious factors, and represented excesses related to day-to-day tensions and eating habits. Most of the participants did not consider the disease to be chronic and believed that treatment would be temporary and they would be cured. The average beliefs for control measures were of 1.45, with dietary measures and medication. A sedentary lifestyle was the norm and reducing smoking and alcohol, using less salt and saturated fat in the preparation of meals, consuming white meat, cooked and industrialized food was seen as the answer. Only 66% complied with medical prescriptions. Lack of understanding of the causes and control measures of CAD makes the implementation of medical care, better living and health conditions and self-care essential. HubMed – eating

 

[Prescriptions for anorectic psychotropic drugs in the municipality of Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil].

Filed under: Eating Disorders

Cien Saude Colet. 2012 Dec; 17(12): 3331-42
Martins EL, Amaral Mda P, Ferreira MB, Mendonça AÉ, Pereira MC, Pereira DC, Ribeiro PM, Brumano LP

Obesity is a serious public health issue of epidemic proportions. Although drug therapy is one of the therapeutic approaches, it should be preceded by a change in eating habits along with regular exercise. This study assessed prescription of such drugs in 2009, in Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Data were collected from consumption bulletins sent monthly to the municipal sanitary surveillance agency (VISA), and from the Brazilian National Management System of Controlled Products. Of the 7,759 notifications assessed, 93.3% were dispensed by prescription pharmacies and 6.7% by drugstores. Of that total, 55.4% were for amphepramone, 33.1% for femproporex, and 11.5% for mazindol. The three drugs had a larger consumption rate in the municipality (daily defined dose/1,000 inhabitants/day) than in the country as a whole, during the period under study. The professional with the highest prescription rate was responsible for 3,535 prescriptions. All of these were dispensed by prescription pharmacies, a single outlet being responsible for 99.5% of these prescriptions. This scenario shows that anorectic psychotropic drug prescription is a relevant public health issue and the criteria for monitoring the prescription and consumption of these drugs should be re-evaluated.
HubMed – eating

 


 

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