[Non-invasive ventilation in acute respiratory failure. A case report]. / Insufficienza respiratoria acuta trattata con ventilazione meccanica non invasiva.

This is a case of 89 years old patient suffering by chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and affected by acute respiratory failure characterized by hypoxemia and hipercapnia. It is interesting because, comparing oxygen therapy and non invasive ventilation, the best results were reached with the last technique, in an elder patient.

[Prevalence of depression in a geriatric population with metabolic syndrome]. / Prevalenza della depressione in una popolazione geriatrica con sindrome metabolica.

Metabolic Syndrome (Metabolic Syndrome, MS) is associated with many other diseases in the elderly. We have studied a possible correlation between this disorder and depression in a Geriatric Centre. The study was conducted on a random sample of 30 geriatric patients, then divided into 2 groups according to clinical and instrumental diagnostic investigations: 15 patients affected MS according to the criteria of NCEP ATP III, and 15 controls without MS. Then it's administered the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Elaboration of the results it appears statistically significant correlation (t=2.05, p=0.0495) between MS and depression in the elderly.

[Adverse drug reactions: a common cause of hospitalization of the elderly]. / Reazioni avverse ai farmaci negli anziani.

Aging is associated with various physiological changes and multiple diseases which alter the pharmacological response to a drug in elderly patient. Moreover, elderly people are more sensitive to frequently used drugs like NSAIDs, benzodiazepines, opioids, etc. There is an urgent need to develop better preventive strategies to reduce the burden of adverse drug reactions.