The global increase in elderly population all over the world, especially in Portugal, justifies the importance of mental health study in this age group. The aim of this study was to characterize the elderly patients in Gerontopsychiatry Consultation of Centro Hospitalar São João in Porto, related to socio-demographic aspects, physical and global disabilities, depression, suicidal ideation and quality of life, and to explore the association between suicidal ideation, depression, and quality of life and global and functional disability. In this cross-sectional study, 155 patients were recruited consecutively, with a final sample of 75 subjects (59 women and 16 men) without cognitive deficits and a mean age of 72.8 (SD = 6.04). Concerning the depression level measured with the Geriatric Depression Scale (Barreto et al., 2008) it was found that 66.7% presented severe depression and suicidal ideation (M = 41.96, SD = 36.38), a value considered with a potential risk of suicide using the Suicidal Ideation Questionnaire (Ferreira & Castela, 1999). The elderly also perceived their quality of life as low, revealing global disability assessed with the EasyCare- Elderly Assessment (Sousa & Figueiredo, 2000a). A significant positive correlation was also found between depression and suicidal ideation (rs =.71, p < .001), as well as quality of life (rs = .50, p < .001), and suicidal ideation with quality of life (rs = .40, p < .001). The data obtained in this study corroborate the results found in other studies.

Chemo and targeted anticancer therapies present significant skin adverse reactions, which impair the patients’ quality of life. Cutaneous toxicities lead to poor treatment adherence, drug cessation, and psychosocial distress. This review aims to summarize the current knowledge concerning the prevention and management of skin toxicity arising from these therapies. A systematic literature search on online databases was conducted. The categorization of the main preventive and treatment measures was performed according to the level of evidence. Management of skin adverse reactions of oncology treatments is very heterogeneous, which can be explained by the lack of sound evidence-based treatments. The most studied adverse effects are papulopustular eruption, xerosis, and hand–foot syndrome. Prevention of xerosis stands out as the strategy most supported by level II studies. With respect to treatment, the use of antibiotics in papulopustular eruption resulting from anti-epidermal growth factor receptor agents is the most evidence-based approach. In general, the number of studies published in the literature classified with a level II of evidence (52%) is similar to the ones classified as level IV (33%), making clear the need of more randomized controlled trials regarding the effectiveness of preventive and treatment measures of skin adverse reactions of chemo and targeted anticancer therapies.

The results highlighted the relationship between emotional regulation difficulty, disease characteristics, and psychological variables in psoriasis disability emphasizing the importance of including a broader approach in clinical management of psoriatic patients.