PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

B J Anía Lafuente

Publications and source records attributed to B J Anía Lafuente.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

[Anemia and functional incapacity at admission to a geriatric home].

AIM: To ascertain the prevalence of anemia on admission to a nursing home, and to assess the relationship between the observed cases of anemia and the functional status of those subjects. METHODS: We studied 198 subjects: 82 men (41%) aged 75.8 +/- 8.8 years, and 116 women (59%) aged 78.2 +/- 8.3 years. Anemia was diagnosed according to the criteria of the World Health Organization. The classification as non-disabled, or physically or mentally disabled, was done according to the Scales of the Spanish Red Cross. RESULTS: Anemia was diagnosed in 36% of the males, being microcytic in 14%, normocytic in 83%, and macrocytic only in 3% of them. Among women there were 44% with anemia, which was microcytic in 16%, normocytic in 80%, and macrocytic in 4% of cases. The prevalence of anemia increased with age in both sexes. Among men, anemia was significantly associated (p = 0.013) with physical disability, whereas among women this association just fell off significance (p = 0.06). There was no association of anemia with mental disability. No association was found between serum concentrations of ferritin, vitamin B12, or folic acid, and the classification as non-disabled, or as physically or mentally disabled. CONCLUSIONS: Anemia is found in about 40% of the elderly on admission to our nursing home. Anemia is associated with older age and with physical disability, but not with mental disability. Whether anemia on admission entails a higher risk of disability onset during the stay in the nursing home remains to be elucidated.

Aged↗
PubMed2000

[Thyroid function in the aged admitted to a nursing home].

BACKGROUND: Intrinsic thyroid diseases and so-called sick euthyroid syndrome are frequent among the elderly. Therefore, we set out to assess the usefulness of the measurement of thyroid hormones and TSH on admission to a public nursing home. METHODS: A medical history, physical examination, geriatric assessment and a venous sample were taken from 201 elderly subjects on admission to a nursing home. Thyroid hormones and TSH were measured in all cases. All subjects were classified as valid, mentally impaired, or physically impaired, according to the Spanish Red Cross Scales. RESULTS: Sixty non-disabled and 141 disabled elders were studied. Sixteen (7.9%) cases of primary hypothyroidism were found, of whom 7 (3.5%) were deemed deserving treatment with L-thyroxine, their mean daily dose being 114.3 mcg. Sick euthyroid syndrome was considered to be present in 28 (13.9%) cases, of whom 25 had a normal T4, three had a low T4, and none had a high T4. No cases of hyperthyroidism were detected. Thyroid hormone abnormalities were not statistically associated with age, gender, or physical or mental disability. CONCLUSIONS: On admission to the nursing home, nearly 8% of the elders have hypothyroidism, and an additional 14% have the sick euthyroid syndrome. Routine measurement of T4 and TSH in elders on admission to a nursing home has a favorable cost-utility ratio.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1996

[Breast carcinoma in a series of 53 young women].

Breast carcinoma in young women is an uncommon problem which requires a high index of clinical suspicion. The clinical features, mammographic and echographic findings, and the results of fine-needle aspiration in the 53 cases of carcinoma in women aged < or = 35 years diagnosed in a general hospital from 1981 to 1994 were reported. Mean age at diagnosis was 31.3 years. The most common complaint for patient referral to the mammography unit was the detection of a nodule. Abnormalities were observed in 94% of mammographies obtained. Echography was suggestive of malignancy in 62% of cases in which it was obtained, and cytology was positive in 70% of specimens obtained by fine-needle aspiration. Despite general opinion that breast in young women are relatively dense, mammography is appropriate for the diagnosis of breast carcinoma even in younger women. Supplemented with echography and fine needle aspiration, mammography can be and should be used for investigation of breast with palpable nodules in young women.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

[Clinical effectiveness of antimeasles vaccine in Canarias. A case-control study].

During 1988 an outbreak of measles occurred in Gran Canaria Island. Since a certain number of cases occurred in vaccinated children, a case control study of the efficacy of measles vaccine was carried out. Fourty six cases of children aged from 15 months to 7 years were studied together with 46 age, sex, and neighbourhood matched controls. The studied cases were children who came to the Pediatric Emergency Room of the Hospital Materno-Infantil, Las Palmas, and were diagnosed of measles from the 23rd February 1988 to the 30th June 1988. The control group was formed by the first child that came to this Emergency Room right after each of the children of the measles group presenting traumatological or surgical pathology and that could be properly matched. Both measles and control children were included in the study without information about their vaccination status. In this population, the clinical efficacy of measles vaccine, corrected in order to calculate that corresponding to a cohort study given the similarity of excess reasons in the matched and not matched 2 by 2 tables, was 76.0% (confidence interval 95%: 30.4% to 85.4%). The clinical efficacy calculated by us is somewhat inferior to the 90% usually reported in the literature, nevertheless, the vaccine still has a clear, statistically significant protective effect. We believe that this diminished efficacy could be due, amongst other reasons, to a break in the cooling system or to a smaller seroconversion index in our subtropical climate. We suggest this latter aspect should be studied in detail.

Atlantic Islands↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Healthy aging and functional disability among the elderly inhabitants of the Canary Islands (Spain)].

BACKGROUND: Among the elderly, health is usually measured in terms of ability for both the Basic and Instrumental Activities of Daily Living. The objective of this work is to estimate the percentage of healthy elderly among the population of the Canary Islands (Spain) and the factors associated with functional disability in this older population. METHODS: We randomly sampled 411 elderly from the whole population of the Canary Islands, of whom 97 had died or could not be located. Of the 314 people approached, 29 (9.2%) denied participation. The 285 participants were interviewed with the Spanish version of Pfeiffer's Functional Assessment Inventory previously adapted and validated in our habitat. RESULTS: Up to 53% of the elderly (61% of males and 47% of females) were disability-free. Greater disability was associated with higher age, lesser education, worse subjective health, worse subjective vision, and worse subjective hearing. No association of disability with female gender and cognitive deficit was found when including age and education in the logistic model. CONCLUSIONS: Health status among the elderly in the Canaries is similar to that in developed countries. In contrast with other studies, we found functional ability associated with poor hearing and dissociated from cognitive deficit.

Activities of Daily Living↗