Impact of ankylosing spondylitis on foot health and quality of life: an observational case-control study.

Background: Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) is a chronic, inflammatory, and autoimmune disease. This condition primarily affects the axial skeleton and presents direct foot involvement, such as Achilles enthesitis or plantar fascia involvement. Objective: This study aimed to investigate the impact of foot health on the quality of life of individuals with AS compared to a control group without AS. Materials and methods: A sample of 112 subjects was recruited, with a mean age of 46.80 ± 10.49 years, divided into two groups: 56 individuals with AS (cases) and 56 individuals without AS (controls). Demographic data were collected, and the scores obtained in the Foot Health Status Questionnaire domains were recorded. Results: Of the participants, 27.79% (N = 30) were men and 73.21% (N = 82) were women. The mean age in the group was 46.80 ± 10.49. Significant differences (p < 0.05) were found in the domains of foot function, foot pain, footwear, overall foot health, general health-related physical activity, and social capacity between the AS group and the control group. Conclusion: Individuals with AS exhibited a decreased quality of life, as indicated by their Foot Health Status Questionnaire scores.

The implications of the foot health status in Parkinson patients: A case-control study.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that affects both health of the feet, as to gait patterns. This study aimed to find out about foot problems and their impact on self-perceived quality of life and related to foot health in Parkinson's patients compared to a group of healthy subjects and to measure it with Spanish Podiatry Health Questionnaire (PHQ-S). It is about a case-control study in a sample of Parkinson's patients n = 62, healthy controls n = 62. The PHQ-S was reported, it describes perception the subject has in each of podiatric 6 dimensions consulted, assessing appreciation of health status of interviewee's feet and a self-rated the foot health score on the visual analog scale (VAS). There were statistically significant differences (P < 0.05) in the dimensions that assessed problems with walking and moving, nail trimming, concern feet state, and affectation of quality of life related foot health. Regarding the self-perception of state of their feet, Parkinson's patients perceive a worse state of health of their feet than healthy subjects. The mean value was 4.8 (SD 2.2) for Parkinson's patients and 3.8 (SD 2.3) for healthy subjects. In conclusion, patients with PD have problems in walking or moving, foot pain, difficulties in foot hygiene and in cutting for their nails, as well as the concern they suffer from deterioration in state of their feet affect them and decrease their quality of life. Podiatric problems in Parkinson's patients have a great impact in reducing quality of life related to foot health.

Use of health care services according to functional performance in community-dwelling older adults in Spain. An approach using GAMLSS models.

Functional performance in older adults is a predictor of survival and other health outcomes and its measurement is highly recommended in primary care settings. Functional performance and frailty are closely related concepts, and frailty status is associated with the use of health care services. However, there is insufficient evidence on the utilization of services profile according to the functional performance of older adults. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between functional performance and the use of a wide range of health services in community-dwelling older adults. Generalized additive models for location, scale and shape were used to study these complex data of services utilization, from primary to hospital care. A total of 749 participants from two Spanish regions were followed up for 2 years. Of those, 276 (37%) presented low functional performance and 473 (63%) normal performance according to the Timed Up and Go test. The results showed that even after adjusting for burden of comorbidity and polypharmacy, participants with low functional performance used primary and secondary care health services more intensively, visited emergency rooms more often, and were hospitalized more frequently and for longer periods of time. A negative binomial distribution and a variant thereof were found to be the best models to describe health service utilization data. In conclusion, functionality should be considered as an important health indicator for tailoring the provision of health services for older adults.

Description of frail older people profiles according to four screening tools applied in primary care settings: a cross sectional analysis.

BACKGROUND: Regarding the health care of older populations, WHO recommends shifting from disease-driven attention models towards a personalized, integrated and continuous care aimed to the maintenance and enhancement of functional capacities. Impairments in the construct of functional intrinsic capacity have been understood as the condition of frailty or vulnerability. No consensus has been yet reached regarding which tools are the most suitable for screening this kind of patients in primary care settings. Tools based on the measurement of functional performance such as Timed up and go test (TUG), Short Physical Performance battery (SPPB), self-completed questionnaires like Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI) and clinical judgement, as the Gerontopole Frailty Scale (GFS) may be adequate. The objective of this work is to describe and compare characteristics of community-dwelling individuals identified as vulnerable or frail by four tools applied in primary care settings. METHODS: Cross sectional analysis developed in primary care services in two regions of Spain. Community-dwelling independent individuals aged 70 or more willing to participate were recruited and data was collected via face-to-face interviews. Frailty was assessed by TUG, SPPB, TFI and GFST. Also socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle habits and health status data (comorbidities, polypharmacy, self-perceived health), were collected. Multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and cluster analysis were used to identify groups of individuals with similar characteristics. RESULTS: Eight hundred sixty-five individuals were recruited, 53% women, with a mean age of 78 years. Four clusters of participants emerge. Cluster 1 (N = 263) contained patients categorized as robust by most of the studied tools, whereas clusters 2 (N = 199), 3 (N = 183) and 4 (N = 220) grouped patients classified as frail or vulnerable by at least one of the tools. Significant differences were found between clusters. CONCLUSIONS: The assessed tools identify different profiles of patients according to their theoretical construct of frailty. There is a group of patients that are identified by TUG and SPPB but not by GFS or TFI. These tools may be useful in primary care settings for the implementation of a function- driven clinical care of older patients.

Evaluation of Inappropriate Prescribing in Patients Older than 65 Years in Primary Health Care.

To asses inappropriate prescribing and its predisposing factors in polymedicated patients over the age of 65 in primary health care. DESIGN: cross-sectional study. SETTING: Primary care centres in the Costa del Sol Health District and Northern Health Area of Malaga in southern Spain. PARTICIPANTS: Patients older than 65 years who use multiple medications. Data collection was conducted during 1 year in a population of 425 individuals who comprised a stratified randomized sample of the population of health care users in the study area. The data were collected by interview on a structured data collection form. STUDY VARIABLES: Dependent variable: Potentially inappropriate prescribing (PIP) (STOPP/START criteria). Predictor variables: Sociodemographic characteristics, clinical characteristics and medication use. A descriptive analysis of the variables was performed. Statistical inference was based on bivariate analysis (Student's t or Mann-Whitney U test and chi-squared test) and multivariate analysis was used to control for confounding factors. 73.6% of participants met one or more STOPP/START criteria. According to information about prescribed treatments, 48.5% of participants met at least one STOPP criterion and 43.30% of them met at least one START criterion. The largest percentage of inappropriate prescriptions was associated with cardiovascular treatments. More than three-quarters of the participants had one or more inappropriate prescriptions for medicines in primary care, according to STOPP/START criteria. In addition, PIP was directly related to the number of prescribed medications, gender and specific pathologies (diabetes).

Prevalence and Related Factors of Ineffective Self-Health Management in Polymedicated Patients Over the Age of 65 Years.

PURPOSE: To determine the prevalence of Ineffective Self-Health Management (ISHM) (00078) and its related factors in polymedicated patients over the age of 65 years. METHODS: A cross-sectional, descriptive design was used. A home interview was conducted with each participant (N = 375) for data collection. FINDINGS: The prevalence of ISHM was 37.3%. The risk factors associated were social risk, depression, noncompliance, medication errors, and confusion with medications. CONCLUSIONS: Among polymedicated elderly patients, the prevalence of ISHM is high. The diagnosis is closely connected to the compliance and complexity of the treatment regimen, in addition to those relating strictly to social and emotional factors. IMPLICATIONS: Nursing methodology encompasses instruments that allow nurses in clinical practice to evaluate the issue of compliance.

Influence of Age, Sex, and Anthropometric Determinants on the Foot Posture Index in a Pediatric Population.

BACKGROUND: The Foot Posture Index (FPI) is a clinical tool for diagnosis that aims to quantify the grade of a foot position as neutral, pronated, or supinated. Its purpose is to develop a simple six-factor method for rating foot posture with an easy and quantitative result. We evaluated possible differences in the FPI by sex and the influences of age, weight, height, foot size, and body mass index (BMI) on foot posture. METHODS: In 150 asymptomatic children (79 boys and 71 girls) aged 8 to 13 years, we determined weight, height, BMI, and FPI in the bipedal, static, and relaxed position. The FPI was obtained as the sum of the scores (-2, -1, 0, 1, 2) given to each of the six criteria. RESULTS: The mean ± SD FPI value for the total sample was 5.1 ± 2.1 (boys: 5.1 ± 2.2; girls: 5.2 ± 2.0), so there were no significant differences between the sexes (P = .636). Of the 150 feet examined, none had FPI values of very supinated or highly pronated, two were supinated (1.3%), 76 neutral (50.7%), and 72 pronated (48.0%). Of the total FPI values, 7.7% can be explained by anthropometric variables: height, weight, and foot size (r2 = 0.077; P < .010). CONCLUSIONS: The most frequent foot postures in the sample were neutral and pronated. Neither age nor BMI explained variations in the FPI.

Medication-related factors associated with health-related quality of life in patients older than 65 years with polypharmacy.

METHODS AND DESIGN: Objective: To describe the relationship between medication-related factors and the health-related quality of life in patients older than 65 years who use multiple medications (polypharmacy). Design: Cross-sectional descriptive study. Setting: Primary care. Participants: Patients older than 65 years who use multiple medications (n = 375). Measurements: The main outcome measure was health-related quality of life according to the EuroQol-5D instrument. Sociodemographic, clinical and medication-related variables were recorded during home interviews. RESULTS: Mean age was 74.72 ± 5.59 years, and 65.5% of our participants were women. The global level of health-related quality of life according to the EQ-5D visual analog scale was 59.25 ± 20.92. Of the five EuroQol dimensions, anxiety/depression and pain were the most frequently reported, while mobility and self-care were the dimensions with the greatest impact on self-reported quality of life. Multivariate analysis indicated that functional independence was the factor most strongly associated (ß = 14.27 p < 0.001) with better health-related quality of life, while illiteracy (ß = -13.58 p < 0.001), depression (ß = -10.13 p < 0.001), social risk (ß = -7.23 p = 0.004) and using more than 10 medicines (ß = -4.85 p = 0.009) were strongly associated with a poorer health-related quality of life. CONCLUSIONS: Factors inherent within the patient such as functional incapacity, cognitive impairment and social and emotional problems were the main constraints to quality of life in our study population. The number of medicines taken was negatively related with quality of life.

Validation and comparison of instruments to identify frail patientes in primary care settings: Study protocol.

BACKGROUND: In the last few years several indices and tools, aimed at identifying frail subjects in various care settings have been developed. However, to date none of them has been incorporated into usual practice in the primary care setting. The purposes of this study are: 1) to evaluate the predictive capacity of the Tilburg Frailty Indicator (TFI), the Gérontopôle Frailty Screening Tool (GFST) and the KoS model together with two biomarker levels (SOX2 and p16INK4a) for adverse events related to frailty; 2) to determine differences in the use of healthcare services according to frailty. METHODS/DESIGN: Prospective multicentre cohort study with a 2-year follow-up. The study will be performed in primary care centres of Gipuzkoa and Costa del Sol, both located in Spain. Autonomous, non-institutionalized individuals aged 70 and over that agree to participate in this study will constitute the study population. A total of 900 individuals will be randomly selected from the healthcare administrative data bases of the participating health services. Data will be collected at baseline and at 1 and 2 years. The main independent variables assessed at baseline will be TFI outcomes, GFST and the KoS model, together with the expression of SOX2 and p16INK4a levels. During follow-up, loss of autonomy, the occurrence of death and consumption of healthcare resources will be assessed. DISCUSSION: The main focus of this work is the identification and evaluation of several instruments constructed under different rationales to identify frail subjects in primary care settings. The resulting outcomes have potential for direct application to the primary care practice. Early identification of the onset of functional impairment of elderly is an essential, still unresolved aspect in the prevention of dependence in the scope of primary care.

Adherencia al tratamiento en pacientes polimedicados mayores de 65 años con prescripción por principio activo / Adherence to treatment, by active ingredient, in patients over 65 years on multiple medication

OBJETIVO: Valorar el nivel de adherencia al tratamiento y los factores relacionados en polimedicados mayores de 65 con prescripción por principio activo. DISEÑO: Estudio observacional, descriptivo, transversal, sobre polimedicados mayores de 65 años adscritos a los centros de atención primaria del Distrito Sanitario Costa del Sol y del Área Sanitaria Norte de Málaga. Se ha realizado entre enero del 2011 y septiembre del 2012, sobre una población de 375 individuos obtenida mediante muestreo aleatorio simple a partir de las listas de pacientes proporcionadas por cada centro. Los datos se recogieron mediante entrevista, sobre hoja estructurada de recogida de datos y previa firma del consentimiento informado. Variables del estudio: Variable principal de resultado: adherencia al tratamiento (test de Morisky-Green). Variables predictoras: Prescripción por principio activo, variables sociodemográficas, clínicas y relacionadas con la medicación. Se efectuó un análisis descriptivo de las variables. La inferencia estadística se realizó mediante análisis bivariante (test de la t de Student o U de Mann Whitney y chi al cuadrado), controlándose los factores de confusión mediante análisis multivariante (regresión lineal y logística). RESULTADOS: El cumplimiento terapéutico se sitúa en el 51,7%, no apreciándose diferencias estadísticamente significativas con respecto al sexo o la edad. Encontramos relación con residir en zona de interior (p = 0,001), vivir acompañados (p < 0,05) y no presentar riesgo de ansiedad (p = 0,046). CONCLUSIONES: La adherencia es similar a los estudios realizados, independientemente de si la prescripción es por principio activo. El incumplimiento fue mayor en individuos que viven solos, en población costera y con riesgo de ansiedad

AIM: To assess the level of adherence, by active ingredient, to treatment and associated factors in polymedicated patients over 65 years-old. DESIGN: Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study over polymedicated patients over 65 years of the Costa del Sol Health District and the North Malaga Health Area. The study was performed between January 2011 and September 2012 on 375 subjects obtained by simple random sampling from lists provided by each health centre. Data was collected by means of an interview with structured questions. Informed consent was given and signed by all patients before interview. Study variables: Main results variable adherence to treatment (Morisky-Green's test).Predictable variables: Prescription by active ingredient, socio-demographic variables, healthcare centre variables, and treatment associated variables. A descriptive analysis of variables was performed. Statistical inference was determined using univariate analysis (t test of Student or Mann-Whitney U, and Chi-squared), and controlling for confounding factors by multivariate analysis (linear and logistic regression). RESULTS: The result for therapeutic compliance was 51.7%. No statistically significant differences were observed as regards sex and age. A relationship was found in those who resided in rural areas (p = 0.001), lived with family (p < 0.05), and were not at risk of suffering from anxiety (p = 0.046). CONCLUSIONS: We found similar patient adherence to treatment despite the prescribing generic drugs. Failure to therapeutic compliance was greater in those patients who lived by themselves, in a city close to the coast, or in those patients who were at risk of suffering from anxiety

[Adherence to treatment, by active ingredient, in patients over 65 years on multiple medication]. / Adherencia al tratamiento en pacientes polimedicados mayores de 65 años con prescripción por principio activo.

AIM: To assess the level of adherence, by active ingredient, to treatment and associated factors in polymedicated patients over 65 years-old. DESIGN: Observational, descriptive and cross-sectional study over polymedicated patients over 65 years of the Costa del Sol Health District and the North Malaga Health Area. The study was performed between January 2011 and September 2012 on 375 subjects obtained by simple random sampling from lists provided by each health centre. Data was collected by means of an interview with structured questions. Informed consent was given and signed by all patients before interview. STUDY VARIABLES: Main results variable adherence to treatment (Morisky-Green's test). PREDICTABLE VARIABLES: Prescription by active ingredient, socio-demographic variables, health care centre variables, and treatment associated variables. A descriptive analysis of variables was performed. Statistical inference was determined using univariate analysis (t test of Student or Mann-Whitney U, and Chi-squared), and controlling for confounding factors by multivariate analysis (linear and logistic regression). RESULTS: The result for therapeutic compliance was 51.7%. No statistically significant differences were observed as regards sex and age. A relationship was found in those who resided in rural areas (P=.001), lived with family (P<.05), and were not at risk of suffering from anxiety (P=.046). CONCLUSIONS: We found similar patient adherence to treatment despite the prescribing generic drugs. Failure to therapeutic compliance was greater in those patients who lived by themselves, in a city close to the coast, or in those patients who were at risk of suffering from anxiety.