RESUMEN
A progressively increasing percentage of the elderly live during the last years of their lives in nursing homes. Although these institutions are intended to mimic life at home as much as possible, they have characteristics that make them quite similar to a "nosocomiun", i.e. an establishment for the treatment of the sick. The very coexistence among the elderly, the fact of sharing caregivers and the very significant exposure to third parties, together with the frequent predisposing diseases to infection in this population, make infection frequent among residents and also easily transmissible. This leads us to ask what can be done to prevent infection in this environment and more specifically what is the state of the art of the matter in a Western European nation such as ours. The Board of Trustees of the Health Sciences Foundation has asked itself a series of questions on the subject of infection prevention in Nursing Homes, the structure of procedures, the legislation available, compliance with the measures indicated, the best indicators of the processes and therefore, the need to promote in Spain a document of recommendations to avoid infections in this poplation whose morbidity and mortality need not be highlighted. To this end, a multidisciplinary group of experts in different aspects of this problem has been convened and asked the proposed questions. The questions were discussed by the group as a whole and led to a series of conclusions agreed upon by the participants. The results of the meeting are reported below.
Asunto(s)
Control de Infecciones , Cuidados a Largo Plazo , Humanos , Anciano , España/epidemiología , Casas de SaludRESUMEN
There is accumulating evidence showing that influenza infection and cardiorespiratory diseases are closely associated. Influenza has been described as a triggering factor capable of both exacerbate underlying chronic diseases as well as inducing the appearance of new respiratory and cardiovascular events. Consequently, influenza infection and its associated comorbidity have a significant impact on the health system. In this document, we extensively reviewed the current literature to describe the most relevant data on the relationship between influenza infection and cardiorespiratory diseases. Likewise, we analyzed the possible pathophysiological mechanisms explaining the connection between influenza infection and cardiac and respiratory events. Finally, reviewed data has been put into perspective to highlight the importance of influenza vaccination as an effective measure in the prevention of cardiorespiratory diseases, especially in the population with underlying chronic diseases.