Patients receiving a high burden of antibiotics in the community in Spain: a cross-sectional study.

Some patients in the community receive a high burden of antibiotics. We aimed at describing the characteristics of these patients, antibiotics used, and conditions for which they received antibiotics. We carried out a cross-sectional study. Setting: Thirty Health Primary Care Areas from 12 regions in Spain, covering 5,960,191 inhabitants. Patients having at least 30 packages of antibacterials for systemic use dispensed in 2017 were considered. Main outcome measures: Prevalence of antibiotic use, conditions for which antibiotics were prescribed, clinical characteristics of patients, comorbidities, concomitant treatments, and microbiological isolates. Patient's average age was 70 years; 52% were men; 60% smokers/ex-smokers; 54% obese. Overall, 93% of patients had, at least, one chronic condition, and four comorbidities on average. Most common comorbidities were cardiovascular and/or hypertension (67%), respiratory diseases (62%), neurological/mental conditions (32%), diabetes (23%), and urological diseases (21%); 29% were immunosuppressed, 10% were dead at the time of data collection. Patients received three antibiotic treatments per year, mainly fluoroquinolones (28%), macrolides (21%), penicillins (19%), or cephalosporins (12%). Most frequently treated conditions were lower respiratory tract (infections or prophylaxis) (48%), urinary (27%), and skin/soft tissue infections (11%). Thirty-five percent have been guided by a microbiological diagnosis, being Pseudomonas aeruginosa (30%) and Escherichia coli (16%) the most frequent isolates. In conclusion, high antibiotic consumers in the community were basically elder, with multimorbidity and polymedication. They frequently received broad-spectrum antibiotics for long periods of time. The approach to infections in high consumers should be differentiated from healthy patients receiving antibiotics occasionally

ADHEFAP: ensayo clínico para evaluar una intervención telefónica educacional-conductual por el farmacéutico de atención primaria en la mejora de la adherencia terapéutica

Resumen: Objetivo: Evaluar la mejora en la adherencia terapéutica (AT) de una intervención basada en el seguimiento telefónico por parte del farmacéutico de atención primaria (FAP). Diseño: Ensayo clínico abierto aleatorizado con grupo control. Emplazamiento: Este estudio se realizó en el ámbito de la atención primaria por un equipo multidisciplinar de 13 centros de salud pertenecientes a 4 direcciones asistenciales de la Comunidad de Madrid durante el año 2021. Participantes: Pacientes polimedicados (60-74 años) que aceptasen participar y fueran clasificados como no adherentes según el test Morisky-Green. Se captaron 224 pacientes, de los cuales 87 fueron no adherentes. De estos se perdieron 15, aleatorizándose finalmente 72. Terminaron el estudio 71 pacientes, 33 en el grupo intervención y 38 en el grupo control. Intervenciones: Al grupo intervención se le incluyó en un programa de seguimiento telefónico que consistía en una entrevista para mejorar la adherencia en los meses 1, 2 y 3. Para evaluar la mejora se repetía el test Morisky-Green al 4.° mes. En el control únicamente se realizó el test de AT al 4.° mes. Mediciones principales: Adherencia, medida por el Morisky-Green al inicio y a los 4 meses. Resultados: En el grupo intervención el 72,7% de los pacientes pasaron a ser adherentes, mientras que en el grupo control el 34,2%, siendo la diferencia del 38,5% (IC 95%: 17,1-59,9) estadísticamente significativa (p = 0,001). Conclusiones: Tras la intervención de seguimiento telefónico educacional-conductual a pacientes no adherentes por parte del FAP se mejora la AT de forma estadísticamente significativa en el grupo intervención respecto al grupo control. Abstract: Objective: Evaluate the improvement in therapeutic adherence of an intervention based on telephone monitoring by the primary care pharmacist. Design: Randomized open controlled trial. Location: This study was carried out in 2021 by a multidisciplinary team working with health professionals of thirteen health centers belonging to four health districts in Community of Madrid, Spain. Participants: These were patients (60-74 years) with polipharmacy classified as non-adherent according to the Morisky-Green test. Two hundred and twenty-four patients were originally enrolled, 87 of them were non-adherents. Of these, 15 were lost and 72 were finally randomized. Seventy-one patients completed the study (33 intervention group and 38 control group). Interventions: Patients randomized to the intervention arm were included in a follow-up telephone program consisting of an interview at months 1, 2, and 3 to improve adherence. The Morisky-Green test was repeated at month 4 to assess improvement. In the control group this test was only performed at month 4. Main measurements: Adherence measured by Morisky-Green at baseline and at 4th month. Results: The 72.7% of patients in the intervention group became adherent while only 34.2% did in the control arm, being the difference 38.5% (95% CI: 17.1-59.9), statistically significant (P=.001). Conclusions: After a follow-up educational-behavioral telephone intervention in non-adherent patients by the primary care pharmacist, therapeutic adherence was improved statistically significantly in the intervention group compared with the control group

Jornada de benvinguda ETSAB. Curs 2019-20

Jornada de benvinguda ETSAB. Curs 2019-20. Acte de benvinguda on els responsables de les diferents assignatures donen el seu punt de vista sobre la catedral de Notre Dame de Paris.Jornada de benvinguda ETSAB. Curs 2019-20. Acte de benvinguda on els responsables de les diferents assignatures donen el seu punt de vista sobre la catedral de Notre Dame de Paris

Smartphone-based ecological momentary assessment for the measurement of the performance status and health-related quality of life in cancer patients under systemic anticancer therapies: Development and acceptability of a mobile app

Background: We have defined a project to develop a mobile app that continually records smartphone parameters which may help define the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status (ECOG-PS) and the health-related quality of life (HRQoL), without interaction with patients or professionals. This project is divided into 3 phases. Here we describe phase 1. The objective of this phase was to develop the app and assess its usability concerning patient characteristics, acceptability, and satisfaction. Methods: The app eB2-ECOG was developed and installed in the smartphone of cancer patients who will be followed for six months. Criteria inclusion were: age over 18-year-old; diagnosed with unresectable or metastatic lung cancer, gastrointestinal stromal tumor, sarcoma, or head and neck cancer; under systemic anticancer therapies; and possession of a Smartphone. The app will collect passive and active data from the patients while healthcare professionals will evaluate the ECOG-PS and HRQoL through conventional tools. Acceptability was assessed during the follow-up. Patients answered a satisfaction survey in the app between 3-6 months from their inclusion. Results: The app developed provides a system for continuously collecting, merging, and processing data related to patient"s health and physical activity. It provides a transparent capture service based on all the available data of a patient. Currently, 106 patients have been recruited. A total of 36 patients were excluded, most of them (21/36) due to technological reasons. We assessed 69 patients (53 lung cancer, 8 gastrointestinal stromal tumors, 5 sarcomas, and 3 head and neck cancer). Concerning app satisfaction, 70.4% (20/27) of patients found the app intuitive and easy to use, and 51.9% (17/27) of them said that the app helped them to improve and handle their problems better. Overall, 17 out of 27 patients [62.9%] were satisfied with the app, and 14 of them [51.8%] would recommend the app to other patients. Conclusions: We observed that the app's acceptability and satisfaction were good, which is essential for the continuity of the project. In the subsequent phases, we will develop predictive models based on the collected information during this phase. We will validate the method and analyze the sensitivity of the automated results.This work has been partly supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (TEC2017-92552-EXP, RTI2018-099655-B-I00), the Comunidad de Madrid (Y2018/TCS-4705 PRACTICO-CM, IND2018/TIC-9649, IND2017/TIC-7618), and the BBVA Foundation (Deep-DARWiN grant)

Sars-Cov-2 Infection in Patients on Long-Term Treatment with Macrolides in Spain: A National Cross-Sectional Study

The aim of this study was to know the prevalence and severity of COVID-19 in patients treated with long-term macrolides and to describe the factors associated with worse outcomes. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Primary Care setting. Patients with macrolides dispensed continuously from 1 October 2019 to 31 March 2020, were considered. Main outcome: diagnosis of coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19). Secondary outcomes: symptoms, severity, characteristics of patients, comorbidities, concomitant treatments. A total of 3057 patients met the inclusion criteria. Median age: 73 (64–81) years; 55% were men; 62% smokers/ex-smokers; 56% obese/overweight. Overall, 95% of patients had chronic respiratory diseases and four comorbidities as a median. Prevalence of COVID-19: 4.8%. This was in accordance with official data during the first wave of the pandemic. The most common symptoms were respiratory: shortness of breath, cough, and pneumonia. Additionally, 53% percent of patients had mild/moderate symptoms, 28% required hospital admission, and 19% died with COVID-19. The percentage of patients hospitalized and deaths were 2.6 and 5.8 times higher, respectively, in the COVID-19 group (p < 0.001). There was no evidence of a beneficial effect of long-term courses of macrolides in preventing SARS-CoV-2 infection or the progression to worse outcomes in old patients with underlying chronic respiratory diseases and a high burden of comorbidity

Clinical and genetic characteristics of late-onset Huntington's disease

Background: The frequency of late-onset Huntington's disease (>59 years) is assumed to be low and the clinical course milder. However, previous literature on late-onset disease is scarce and inconclusive. Objective: Our aim is to study clinical characteristics of late-onset compared to common-onset HD patients in a large cohort of HD patients from the Registry database. Methods: Participants with late- and common-onset (30–50 years)were compared for first clinical symptoms, disease progression, CAG repeat size and family history. Participants with a missing CAG repeat size, a repeat size of ≤35 or a UHDRS motor score of ≤5 were excluded. Results: Of 6007 eligible participants, 687 had late-onset (11.4%) and 3216 (53.5%) common-onset HD. Late-onset (n = 577) had significantly more gait and balance problems as first symptom compared to common-onset (n = 2408) (P <.001). Overall motor and cognitive performance (P <.001) were worse, however only disease motor progression was slower (coefficient, −0.58; SE 0.16; P <.001) compared to the common-onset group. Repeat size was significantly lower in the late-onset (n = 40.8; SD 1.6) compared to common-onset (n = 44.4; SD 2.8) (P <.001). Fewer late-onset patients (n = 451) had a positive family history compared to common-onset (n = 2940) (P <.001). Conclusions: Late-onset patients present more frequently with gait and balance problems as first symptom, and disease progression is not milder compared to common-onset HD patients apart from motor progression. The family history is likely to be negative, which might make diagnosing HD more difficult in this population. However, the balance and gait problems might be helpful in diagnosing HD in elderly patients