What is the relationship between physical activity and chronic pain in older adults? A systematic review and meta-analysis protocol

INTRODUCTION: Chronic pain is highly prevalent in older adults and can cause functional limitations, negatively affecting health and quality of life. Physical activity is a non-pharmacological approach used to prevent chronic pain as it promotes the release of endogenous opioids that block pain sensitivity. Therefore, we developed a systematic review protocol to analyse the relationship between physical activity and the occurrence and intensity of chronic pain in older adults. METHODS AND ANALYSES: The systematic review will search PubMed, Scopus and Embase databases. The inclusion criteria will be observational studies that had primary chronic pain as an outcome, including persistent and intermittent pain. The population will include older adults from the community, living in a long-stay institution, or in outpatient follow-up. There will be no restriction regarding the year of publication and articles published in Portuguese, English and Spanish will be analysed. Effect or impact measures will be quantified, including OR, HR, prevalence ratio, incidence ratio and relative risk with their 95% CIs. If the data allow, a meta-analysis will be performed. The results may help understand the impact of physical activity as a potential protection factor against the occurrence of pain later in life as well as promote strategic prevention plans and public policies that encourage this practice in older adults. ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION: Ethical approval is not required. The results will be disseminated via submission for publication to a peer-reviewed journal when complete. PROSPERO REGISTRATION NUMBER: CRD42021282898

Prevalence of Vitamin D and Calcium Deficiency and Insufficiency in Women of Childbearing Age and Associated Risk Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency as well as low serum calcium levels can trigger negative health outcomes in women of childbearing age. Therefore, we aimed to estimate the prevalence of serum vitamin D and calcium deficiencies and insufficiencies and associated risk factors in Brazilian women of childbearing age and to assess whether there are differences in prevalence according to regions of the country and the presence or absence of pregnancy. The systematic literature review was performed using the following databases: PubMed, LILACS, Embase, Scopus, and Web of Science. Cross-sectional, cohort, and intervention studies were included. Among pregnant women, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency ranged from 0% to 27% and of vitamin D insufficiency from 33.9% to 70.4%. Among non-pregnant women, the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency ranged from 0% to 41.7% and of vitamin D insufficiency from 38.5% to 69.3%. We found a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency in women of childbearing age, with insufficiency affecting more than half of these women. The highest prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency was observed in the South region. It was not possible to assess the prevalence and factors associated with calcium deficiency

Multimorbidity and complex multimorbidity in Brazilians with severe obesity

To investigate the prevalence of multimorbidity and complex multimorbidity and their association with sociodemographic and health variables in individuals with severe obesity. This is a baseline data analysis of 150 individuals with severe obesity (body mass index ≥ 35.0 kg/m2) aged 18-65 years. The outcomes were multimorbidity and complex multimorbidity. Sociodemographic, lifestyle, anthropometric and self-perceived health data were collected. Poisson multiple regression was conducted to identify multimorbidity risk factors. The frequency of two or more morbidities was 90.7%, three or more morbidities was 76.7%, and complex multimorbidity was 72.0%. Living with four or more household residents was associated with ≥ 3 morbidities and complex multimorbidity. Fair and very poor self-perceived health was associated with ≥ 2 morbidities, ≥ 3 morbidities and complex multimorbidity. A higher BMI range (45.0-65.0 kg/m2) was associated with ≥ 2 morbidities and ≥ 3 morbidities. Anxiety (82.7%), varicose veins of lower limbs (58.7%), hypertension (56.0%) were the most frequent morbidities, as well as the pairs and triads including them. The prevalence of multimorbidity and complex multimorbidity in individuals with severe obesity was higher and the risk for multimorbidity and complex multimorbidity increased in individuals living in households of four or more residents, with fair or poor/very poor self-perceived health and with a higher BMI

Utilização de sistema fechado para coleta de sangue e necessidade de transfusão em pacientes graves

OBJETIVO: A anemia é desordem comum em pacientes graves e as coletas de sangue ocupam papel de destaque como causa. Consequentemente, a transfusão de sangue é freqüente e está relacionada a várias complicações. Na tentativa de reduzir o risco associado à transfusão é necessário minimizar as perdas sanguíneas e para tal, este estudo avaliou o sistema fechado para coleta de sangue como estratégia para diminuir perdas desnecessárias e transfusão sanguínea. MÉTODOS: Estudo clínico prospectivo, randomizado, controlado, multicêntrico, durante 6 meses. Os pacientes foram alocados em dois grupos, grupo VAMP (Venous Arterial Blood Management Protection) que utilizou sistema fechado para coleta de sangue e o grupo controle que não utilizou. O percentual de pacientes transfundidos, assim como a variação da hemoglobina (Hb) e hematócrito (Ht), foram comparados entre os grupos na ao longo de 14 dias. RESULTADOS: Foram incluídos 127 pacientes, sendo 65 controles e 62 VAMP. Durante a internação na unidade de terapia intensiva, ambos os grupos apresentaram queda nos valores de hemoglobina e hematócrito. Entretanto, quando comparados o Ht final e Hb final entre os grupos houve diferença, com maiores valores no grupo VAMP (p=0,03; p=0,006). Não houve diferença estatística entre a proporção de pacientes transfundidos nos dois grupos, embora o grupo VAMP tenha apresentado redução absoluta de 12% na transfusão sanguínea. CONCLUSÃO: A utilização de sistema fechado para coleta de sangue conseguiu minimizar a queda nos valores hematimétricos sem, contudo, reduzir o número de transfusões