Arch Med Sci
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The aim of this study was to determine the best site for bone mineral density (BMD) measurements based on T-scores, age, and beverage consumption. ⋯ Bone mineral density measurements at the hip and forearm correlated with caffeine consumption in elderly Taiwanese women. This is an important finding since age and caffeine consumption are known risk factors for osteoporosis.
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Pain is the most common complaint of elderly people. In Poland, no large studies on the prevalence of chronic pain in the elderly were conducted until recently. ⋯ Polish elderly most frequently complained of low back and lower limb pain. In respondents reporting many sites of pain, an increase in the intensity of pain was observed. Elderly patients with chronic pain often use medical care.
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Previous studies have examined the correlation between hyperandrogenemia and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) in women and showed contradictory results. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the relationship between testosterone level and Fatty Liver Index (FLI), as a surrogate marker for NAFLD, in a cohort of postmenopausal women. ⋯ Bioavailable testosterone is independently associated with FLI in postmenopausal women.
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Sense of control over life has been shown to have protective health effects in studies that have mostly enrolled White middle class individuals. It is unknown, however, whether populations differ in the protective health gain associated with sense of control over life. This study compared a nationally representative sample of Black and White older adults for protective effects of sense of control over life on short-term risk of all-cause mortality in the United States. ⋯ In the United States, Black older adults do not gain a survival benefit associated with high levels of sense of control over life, as do their White counterparts. It is not clear why sense of control over life translates into survival for Whites but not for Blacks.
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Heart failure (HF) is one of the leading causes of morbidity, mortality, and health care expenditures in the US and worldwide. For three decades, the pillars of treatment of HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) were medications that targeted the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) and the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS). ⋯ This review article will discuss the NPS, the failure of early drugs which targeted the NPS as therapies for HF, and the sequence of events which led to the development of sacubitril plus valsartan (Entresto; LCZ696; Novartis). LCZ696 has been shown to be superior to the standard of care available for treatment of HFrEF in several substantial hard endpoints including heart failure hospitalizations, cardiovascular mortality, and all-cause mortality.