Geriatric Update April 15, 2024
In more than 20 million Norwegians covid vaccination reduced the risk of long covid by more than 40%.
heart failure 55% up to 30 days after SARS-CoV-2 infection; 39% at 91–180 days after SARS-CoV-2 infection, venous thromboembolism 78% within 30 days after SARS-CoV-2 infection and 47% between 91–180 days after SARS-CoV-2 infection, and arterial thrombosis 47% within 30 days after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
The FDA has approved a new cephalosporin ceftobiprole medocaril (Zevtera)) for the treatment of: adults with Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections (bacteremia), including MRSA in adults with right-sided infective endocarditis, acute bacterial skin infections and adult and children >3 months with community-acquired bacterial pneumonia.
Touch has been shown to be beneficial in a meta-analysis: Daily 20-minute gentle massages for six weeks in older adults with dementia decreased aggressiveness and reduced the levels of a stress marker in the blood. Another found that massages boosted the mood of breast cancer patients. Positive effects were particularly noticeable in premature babies, with skin-to-skin contact. The mechanism of action is by regulating cortisol levels (Hedges’ g = 0.78, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.24 to 1.31) and increasing weight in newborns as well as in reducing pain (0.69, 95% CI 0.48 to 0.89), feelings of depression (0.59, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.78) and state (0.64, 95% CI 0.44 to 0.84) or trait anxiety (0.59, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.77) for adults.
Lixisenatide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist used for the treatment of diabetes, has shown to be neuroprotective in Parkinson’s. At 12 months, scores on the MDS-UPDRS part III improved by −0.04 points in the lixisenatide group and worsened by 3.04 points in the placebo group. Motor scores were better with lixisenatide 17.7 vs. 20.6 with placebo. This is exciting early data, and if it persists year after year, wit will be practice changing.
Trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) is created by gut microbes from carnitine (mostly in red meat). Over 9.4 years more new chronic kidney disease events occurred in those with higher TMAO levels (2nd to 5th vs. 1st quintile HR[95%CI]= 1.65 [1.22-2.23], 1.68 [1.26-2.25], 2.28 [1.72-3.02], and 2.24[1.68-2.98], respectively) and greater annualized eGFR decline ( 2nd to 5th vs. 1st quintile annualized eGFR change= -0.21 [-0.32, -0.09], -0.17 [-0.29, -0.05], -0.35 [-0.47, -0.22], and -0.43[-0.56, -0.30], respectively), regardless of race or ethnicity.
I lost my earlier draft, so it is short today. I will try to retrieve the information and include it in next week's update.
