Relationship Between Frailty, Sociodemographic and Clinical Characteristics, and Disease Severity of Older Adults With Acute Coronary Syndrome.

This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between frailty, sociodemographic and clinical characteristics, and disease severity of older adults with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). A total of 57 hospitalized patients ≥60 years with ACS were assessed for frailty through the Tilburg Frailty Indicator. Disease severity was assessed by the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events, by the maximum troponin level, and by the number of severely obstructed coronary arteries. The relationship between variables was assessed by Mann Whitney's test, Pearson's chi-square test, likelihood-ratio test, Fisher's exact test, or Student's t test. Analyses were bootstrapped to 1,000 to reduce potential sample bias. About 54.4% were frail. Frailty was associated with ethnicity (p = .02), marital status (p = .05), ischemic equivalents (p = .01), self-perceived health (p = .002), arthritis/rheumatism/arthrosis (p = .002), and number of severely obstructed coronary arteries (p = .05). These relationships can support intensified surveillance planning for the elderly at greatest risk, structuring of transitional care, appropriate nurse-coordinated secondary prevention delivery in primary care, and cardiac rehabilitation following ACS.

Relationships between Depressive Symptoms, Appetite, and Quality of Life in Heart Failure.

This analytical, cross-sectional study aimed to analyze the relationship between depressive symptoms, appetite, and quality of life (QoL) in 86 patients hospitalized with heart failure. Patients were assessed for depressive symptoms, appetite, and QoL using the Beck Depression Inventory-II, the Simplified Nutritional Appetite Questionnaire, and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire, respectively. Relationships between sociodemographic and clinical variables, depressive symptoms, appetite, and QoL were analyzed using bivariate tests and linear regression models, with p < .05 considered significant. The factors associated with QoL were dependence for four activities of daily living (ADLs) (estimate = 15.4, 95% CI = 0.23 to 30.64, p = .046), minor depressive symptoms (estimate = -20.0, 95% CI = -28.3 to -11.73, p < .001), and appetite (estimate = -11.08, 95% CI = -20.5 to -1.62, p = .022). These results can support multi-professional assessment and development of interventions to promote better QoL, including addressing impaired appetite and food intake, the presence or increased intensity of depressive symptoms, especially in patients dependent for ADLs.