Biomedical subjects

Carolina Priami

Publications and source records attributed to Carolina Priami.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2007

Event related brain potentials in elderly patients with recently diagnosed isolated systolic hypertension.

OBJECTIVE: Isolated Systolic Hypertension (ISH) is a known risk factor for cognitive impairment, but the time of onset of neurocognitive changes relative to the onset of ISH has yet to be established. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between systolic BP values and neurocognitive function in the early stages of ISH. METHODS: Twenty elderly patients with recently (< 2 years) diagnosed ISH and 10 elderly normotensive controls underwent Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) and neurocognitive assessment, performed using the Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), and the recording of ERPs with an odd ball acoustic paradigm. RESULTS: There were no significant differences in MMSE scores or in the P300 latency between ISH patients and controls. The N2 latency was significantly higher in ISH patients vs. controls (p<0.0001), and showed a significant association with both clinical and ambulatory systolic BP and pulse pressure values in the overall study population. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest the existence of early subclinical alterations in neurocognitive function in early ISH, detectable through ERPs. SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings underscore the ISH may constitute a threat to neurocognitive health in the elderly.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

Event-related brain potentials in elderly dippers and nondippers with recently diagnosed hypertension.

Several studies have shown a relationship between blood pressure (BP) and cognitive function. Yet very few studies have addressed circadian BP patterns in this context, perhaps due to poor availability of suitable methods to detect slight changes in the cognitive state. Today, brain event-related potentials (ERPs) allow us to detect subclinical changes in cognitive function. We enrolled 30 elderly patients with recently diagnosed hypertension (<2 years) that had never been treated: 18 dippers and 12 nondippers. Patients underwent 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM). Careful assessment of their cognitive state was carried out using the mini mental state examination (MMSE), and the recording of P300 and N2 ERPs. No significant differences between the two groups were found. MMSE scores in dippers and nondippers were similar (29.5+/-0.71 vs. 29.3+/-1.07, respectively; p =0.611), as were P300 latency values (377.78+/-33.28 vs. 364.67+/-35.12 in the central (Cz) position, p =0.310; 379.22+/-32.94 vs. 365.25+/-35.07 in the occipital (Pz) position, p =0.277) and N2 wave latency values (253.83+/-24.9 vs. 249.17+/-24.47 in the Cz position, p =0.617; 251.56+/-25.86 vs. 246.58+/-25.46 in the Pz position, p =0.608). These data show no association between the nondipping pattern and lower cognitive function in elderly subjects with recent hypertension.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

[Risk factors for cognitive impairment].

Cognitive impairment is an invalidating condition and its prevalence increases significantly with age. It is very important to identify the risk factors for cognitive impairment. Aside from age, sex, familiary history and educational level, the other major risk factors (hypertension, hypercolesterolemia, diabetes mellitus and tobacco), known to be associated frequently with different cerebrovascular diseases, might also contribute to degenerative forms of cognitive impairment because they might favour cerebral microvascular alterations with hypoperfusion, demyelinization and ischemic lesions of subcortical white matter. Longitudinal epidemiological studies detected that arterial hypertension, hypercolesterolemia and tobacco are frequently associated with degenerative forms of cognitive impairment. Some studies show there is no relationship between cognitive impairment and diabetes mellitus, while other underline its role; light alcohol drinking might protect against cognitive impairment. Other recently identified risk factors might be hyperhomocysteinemia and high C-reactive protein blood levels because they seem to be associated with cognitive impairment.

Age Factors↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Demographic evolution, aging and frailty].

The 20th century will be remembered for its technological and scientific discoveries and for the exceptional changes in the demographic structure brought about by these and the improved economic and social conditions; in fact, the reduction in the birth rate and a fall in the death rate have caused an increase in the population of the elderly. Today the elderly population represents about 20% of the total and is much more heterogeneous than in the past, with several classes of the elderly: the young elderly from 64 to 74; the old elderly from 75 to 84, the very old from 85 to 100 and the oldest old who are living around a century. The aging of the population has brought out several problems of the elderly, among the "frailty", the effects of which increase as the years pass and which regards about one half of the very old. Frailty is a reduction of the body's ability to maintaine global homeostasis and is caused by a reduction of the functional reserves of all the organs and apparatus which occurs with aging. Screening the frail elderly with a careful multidimensional assessment is important to prevent health problems and to promote good health and it is a good parameter in evaluating the management of the geriatric assistance network and thus health and social costs.

Adolescent↗