Background: Sarcopenia is an important public health problem that affects mainly elders, and has negative consequences, such as disability and even death. Due to the lack of studies evaluating sarcopenia in elderly persons hospitalized in Brazil, the aim of the present study was to describe the frequency of sarcopenia and associated factors among elders in a hospital in the city of Salvador -Brazil. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 110 hospitalized elderly patients in a multi-specialty hospital in Salvador-BA, Brazil. Inclusion criteria: were elders aged ≥60 years between the first and fifth day of hospitalization; who were able to walk without external assistance; with medical permission to walk, and who did not take vasoactive and inotropic drugs. The diagnosis of sarcopenia was determined by combining the reduction in skeletal muscle mass with muscle weakness (women, <20 kg; men, <30 kg) and/or poor physical performance (gait speed ≤0.8 m/s). To obtain reduced skeletal muscle mass, the skeletal muscle mass index ≤6.37 kg/m 2 for women and ≤8.90 kg/m 2 for men was used. Cognitive function, Charlson index, admission profile (clinical and surgical), smoking, falls suffered in the last year and physical inactivity prior to admission were also evaluated. The frequency of sarcopenia was described in percentages with their respective confidence intervals and logistic regression was performed for multivariate analysis of factors associated with sarcopenia. Results: Among the 110 patients included, the frequency of sarcopenia was 21.8%, with 10.0% being of the severe type. There was a predominance of clinical profile (59.1%), such as heart disease (20.0%), pneumonia (13.6%) and skin infections (9.1%), with a Charlson index of 5.4 ± 1.8. The factors associated with sarcopenia were age (OR = 1.14; 95% CI = 1.06 to 1.23), clinical profile on admission (OR = 5.15; 95% CI = 1.16-22.9) and smoking (OR = 7.8; 95% CI = 1.53-39.9). Conclusions: The frequency of sarcopenia in elderly hospitalized patients was high (1 in 5 elderly) and anthropometric equation can be a viable and inexpensive alternative to screening and programming intervention in this population.

OBJECTIVES:The ability of the Timed Up and Go test to predict sarcopenia has not been evaluated previously. The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of the Timed Up and Go test for predicting sarcopenia in elderly hospitalized patients.METHODS:This cross-sectional study analyzed 68 elderly patients (≥60 years of age) in a private hospital in the city of Salvador-BA, Brazil, between the 1st and 5th day of hospitalization. The predictive variable was the Timed Up and Go test score, and the outcome of interest was the presence of sarcopenia (reduced muscle mass associated with a reduction in handgrip strength and/or weak physical performance in a 6-m gait-speed test). After the descriptive data analyses, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of a test using the predictive variable to predict the presence of sarcopenia were calculated.RESULTS:In total, 68 elderly individuals, with a mean age 70.4±7.7 years, were evaluated. The subjects had a Charlson Comorbidity Index score of 5.35±1.97. Most (64.7%) of the subjects had a clinical admission profile; the main reasons for hospitalization were cardiovascular disorders (22.1%), pneumonia (19.1%) and abdominal disorders (10.2%). The frequency of sarcopenia in the sample was 22.1%, and the mean length of time spent performing the Timed Up and Go test was 10.02±5.38 s. A time longer than or equal to a cutoff of 10.85 s on the Timed Up and Go test predicted sarcopenia with a sensitivity of 67% and a specificity of 88.7%. The accuracy of this cutoff for the Timed Up and Go test was good (0.80; IC=0.66-0.94; p=0.002).CONCLUSION:The Timed Up and Go test was shown to be a predictor of sarcopenia in elderly hospitalized patients.

The objective of the study was to evaluate the prevalence and factors associated with Burnout Syndrome (BS) in Primary Health Care (PHC) nursing professionals from the state of Bahia, Brazil. A multicentre, cross-sectional population-based study was conducted in a cluster sample among 1125 PHC Nursing professionals during the years 2017 and 2018. We used a questionnaire that included sociodemographic, labor and lifestyle variables and the Maslach Burnout Inventory scale to identify BS. The associations were evaluated using a robust Poisson regression with the hierarchical selection of the independent variables. The prevalence of BS was 18.3% and the associated factors were ethnicity (prevalence ratio (PR) = 0.62, confidence interval (CI) 95% = 0.47–0.83), residence (PR = 2.35, CI 95% = 1.79–3.09), economic situation (PR = 1.40, CI 95% = 1.06–1.86), satisfaction with current occupation (PR = 1.75, CI 95% = 1.31–2.33), (PR = 1.60, CI 95% = 1.23–2.08), rest (PR = 1.83, 95% CI = 1.41–2.37), technical resources and equipment (PR = 1.37, CI 95% = 1.06–1.77), night shift (PR = 1.49, CI 95% = 1.14–1.96), physical activity practice (PR = 1.72; CI 95% = 1.28–2.31), smoking (PR = 1.82, CI 95% = 1.35–2.45), and satisfaction with physical form (PR = 1.34, CI 95% = 1.01–179). Strategies are needed to prevent BS, with an emphasis on implementing worker health programs in the context of PHC.

This study aimed to describe the prevalence of comorbidities associated with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and their relation with relevant outcomes. A systematic review based on the PRISMA methodology was performed from January 2020 until July 2021. The MEDLINE, Lilacs, and Scielo databases were searched to identify studies related to COPD and its comorbidities. Observational studies on the prevalence of comorbidities in COPD patients and costs with health estimates, reduced quality of life, and mortality were included. Studies that were restricted to one or more COPD pain assessments and only specific comorbidities such as osteoporosis, bronchitis, and asthma were excluded. The initial search identified 1,409 studies and after applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 20 studies were finally selected for analysis (comprising data from 447,459 COPD subjects). The most frequent COPD comorbidities were: hypertension (range, 17%–64.7%), coronary artery disease (19.9%–47.8%), diabetes (10.2%–45%), osteoarthritis (18%–43.8%), psychiatric conditions (12.1%–33%), and asthma (14.7%–32.5%). Several comorbidities had an impact on the frequency and severity of COPD exacerbations, quality of life, and mortality risk, in particular malignancies, coronary artery disease, chronic heart failure, and cardiac arrhythmias. Comorbidities, especially cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, are frequent in COPD patients, and some of them are associated with higher mortality.

A sarcopenia é uma importante problema que acomete os indivíduos aos longos dos anos e que é potencializada por fatores relacionados a doenças ou a estilo de vida inadequado. De acordo com a definição atual é caracterizada como a redução da massa muscular esquelética, associado a redução da força muscular ou desempenho físico. Além das consequências físicas negativas como aumento da ocorrência de quedas e limitação para atividades de vida diária, pode promover alterações sistêmicas devido ao desequílibrio entre a síntese e a degradação proteica. A frequência de sarcopenia em idosos varia de 3 a 30%, a depender dos instrumento diagnóstico e os pontos de corte para identificação de massa muscular reduzida. Para mensuração da variável massa muscular os métodos mais utilizados são ressonância magnética, tomógrafa computadorizada, absorciometria radiológica de dupla energia, bioimpedância elétrica e antropometria, existindo acurácias e custos variáveis entre eles. Em relação a força muscular a principal forma de mensuração é a força de preensão palmar obtida na dinamometria manual. Já o desempenho físico pode ser quantificado através do teste de velocidade de marcha de seis metros. As formas de tratamento para sarcopenia são treino de exercícios de resistência progressiva e exercícios aeróbicos, além de uma nutrição adequada do ponto de vista calórico, proteíco e de quantidade de vitamina D. O estilo de vida associado ao tabagismo, sedentarismo e alcoolismo são fatores desencadeantes de perda de massa e função muscular.