Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to abrupt restrictions of life-space mobility. The impact of shelter-in-place orders on older adults' health and well-being is still unclear. Objective: To investigate the relationship between life-space mobility and quality of life (QoL) in older adults with and without frailty during the COVID-19 pandemic. Design: Multicenter prospective cohort study based on structured telephone interviews. Setting: Four geriatric outpatient clinics in the metropolitan area of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Participants: 557 community-dwelling adults aged 60 years and older. Measurements: The Life-Space Assessment was used to measure community mobility before and during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a previously validated decrease of ≥ 5 points defined restricted life-space mobility. Frailty was assessed through the FRAIL (fatigue, resistance, ambulation, illnesses, and loss of weight) scale. The impact of shelter-in-place orders on QoL was evaluated with the question «How is the COVID-19 pandemic affecting your QoL?», to which participants could respond «not at all», «to some extent», or «to a great extent». We used ordinal logistic regressions to investigate the relationship between restricted life-space mobility and impact on QoL, adjusting our analyses for demographics, frailty, comorbidities, cognition, functionality, loneliness, depression, and anxiety. We explored whether frailty modified the association between life-space mobility and impact on QoL. Results: Participants were on average 80±8 years old, 65% were women, and 33% were frail. The COVID-19 quarantine led to a restriction of community mobility in 79% of participants and affected the QoL for 77% of participants. We found that restricted life-space mobility was associated with impact on QoL in older adults during the pandemic, although frailty modified the magnitude of the association (P-value for interaction=0.03). Frail participants who experienced restricted life-space mobility had twice the odds of reporting an impact on QoL when compared with non-frail individuals, with respective adjusted odds ratios of 4.20 (95% CI=2.36-7.50) and 2.18 (95% CI=1.33-3.58). Conclusion: Older adults experienced substantial decreases in life-space mobility during the COVID-19 pandemic, and this unexpected change impacted their QoL. Providers should be particularly watchful for the consequences of abrupt life-space restrictions on frail individuals.
Assessing risk factors exposure, such as stress in the workplace during adulthood, may contribute to detecting early signs of cognitive impairment in order to implement effective actions to improve brain health and consequently to decrease cognitive disorders later in life. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to investigate whether work-related stress is associated with low cognitive performance in middleaged adults from the Brazilian Longitudinal Study of Adult Health (ELSA-Brasil) andwhether social support mediates this relationship. Work-related stress was evaluated in 9,969 workers using the Demand-Control-Support Questionnaire. Cognitive function was assessed using the verbal fluency, trail-making version B, and delayed recall word tests. Work-related stress was associated with lower performance on the delayed recall, verbal fluency, and executive function tests in middle-aged adults. Social support may mediate the association between work demands and cognitive performance. These findings support that work-related stress is associated with cognitive performance during adulthood. K E Y W O R D Scognition, occupational health, social support, work stress
Objective: To describe the frequency with which nursing staff in hospitals presents an altered diurnal pattern of cortisol secretion. Method: These findings were based on results obtained from 56 randomly selected professional nursing staff working in outpatient clinics, medical clinics, surgical clinics, operating theaters, pediatric and adult emergency units, adult and pediatric intensive care units of a university hospital. The analysis of the diurnal cortisol pattern was based on saliva samples collected over two consecutive working days. Results: 42.5% of these nursing staff members presented an atypical pattern of cortisol secretion. Furthermore, the longer the period of exercising this profession, the higher the cortisol concentration (r=0.346; p=0.020). Conclusion: Over one-third of nursing staff samples displayed atypical cortisol secretion patterns. This suggests that these professionals are exposed, not only to a mental, but also to a biological, overload and thus, to a risk of contracting stress-related illnesses.
Ao ser hospitalizado, o idoso apresenta maior risco de complicações e declínio funcional. O presente estudo avaliou os resultados do Programa Hospital Seguro para a Pessoa Idosa. A intervenção foi realizada em um hospital filantrópico da cidade de São Paulo, Brasil, por meio de uma estratégia de implantação estruturada em 10 passos, incluindo rastreio de fragilidade, avaliação multidimensional, plano terapêutico singular, implementação de protocolos e estratégias de gestão de alta. Foram analisadas ao longo de dois anos 865 internações de idosos frágeis. Indicadores de processo e de resultado foram comparados entre o primeiro ano (período de implementação) e o segundo ano (período de consolidação). A comparação dos indicadores entre os dois períodos revelou que o programa melhorou os processos assistenciais fundamentais na qualidade do cuidado para essa população, incluindo reabilitação motora iniciada nas primeiras 72 horas (74,1 vs. 84,3%; p < 0,001), triagem de risco de broncoaspiração (38,5 vs. 82,8%; p < 0,001) e suplementação nutricional oral (55,6 vs. 76,4%; p < 0,001). A taxa de declínio funcional, que era 17,2% no ano de implantação, caiu para 11,7% no ano de consolidação, com diferença significativa após ajuste em modelo multivariável (p = 0,009). Em conclusão, desenvolvemos um programa factível para a realidade dos hospitais brasileiros e que pode ser reproduzido em outros centros usando-se uma metodologia sistematizada de implantação. Os resultados relativos aos indicadores de processos assistenciais e desfechos clínicos parecem promissores. A disseminação dessa iniciativa deve ser considerada no planejamento das políticas de saúde pública para a rede hospitalar.
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