Impact of SARS-CoV2 infection on mortality and hospitalization in nursing home residents during the "Omicron era".

BACKGROUND: Widespread vaccination and emergence of less aggressive SARS-CoV2 variants may have blunted the unfavourable outcomes of COVID-19 in nursing home (NH) residents. We analysed the course of COVID-19 epidemic in NHs of Florence, Italy, during the "Omicron era" and investigated the independent effect of SARS-CoV2 infection on death and hospitalization risk. METHODS: Weekly SARS-CoV2 infection rates between November 2021 and March 2022 were calculated. Detailed clinical data were collected in a sample of NHs. RESULTS: Among 2044 residents, 667 SARS-CoV2 cases were confirmed. SARS-CoV2 incidence sharply increased during the Omicron era. Mortality rates did not differ between SARS-CoV2-positive (6.9%) and SARS-CoV2-negative residents (7.3%, p = 0.71). Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and poor functional status, but not SARS-CoV2 infection independently predicted death and hospitalization. CONCLUSIONS: Despite that SARS-CoV2 incidence increased during the Omicron era, SARS-CoV2 infection was not a significant predictor of hospitalization and death in the NH setting.

Course and Lethality of SARS-CoV-2 Epidemic in Nursing Homes after Vaccination in Florence, Italy.

Evidence on the effectiveness of SARS-CoV-2 vaccines in nursing home (NHs) residents is limited. We examined the impact of the BNT162b2 mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccine on the course of the epidemic in NHs in the Florence Health District, Italy, before and after vaccination. Moreover, we assessed survival and hospitalization by vaccination status in SARS-CoV-2-positive cases occurring during the post-vaccination period. We calculated the weekly infection rates during the pre-vaccination (1 October-26 December 2020) and post-vaccination period (27 December 2020-31 March 2021). Cox analysis was used to analyze survival by vaccination status. The study involved 3730 residents (mean age 84, 69% female). Weekly infection rates fluctuated during the pre-vaccination period (1.8%-6.5%) and dropped to zero during the post-vaccination period. Nine unvaccinated (UN), 56 partially vaccinated (PV) and 35 fully vaccinated (FV) residents tested SARS-CoV-2+ during the post-vaccination period. FV showed significantly lower hospitalization and mortality rates than PV and UV (hospitalization: FV 3%, PV 14%, UV 33%; mortality: FV 6%, PV 18%, UV 56%). The death risk was 84% and 96% lower in PV (HR 0.157, 95%CI 0.049-0.491) and FV (HR 0.037, 95%CI 0.006-0.223) versus UV. SARS-CoV-2 vaccination was followed by a marked decline in infection rates and was associated with lower morbidity and mortality among infected NH residents.

Caring for nursing home residents with COVID-19: a "hospital-at-nursing home" intermediate care intervention.

BACKGROUND: Nursing home (NH) residents have been dramatically affected by COVID-19, with extremely high rates of hospitalization and mortality. AIMS: To describe the features and impact of an assistance model involving an intermediate care mobile medical specialist team (GIROT, Gruppo Intervento Rapido Ospedale Territorio) aimed at delivering "hospital-at-nursing home" care to NH residents with COVID-19 in Florence, Italy. METHODS: The GIROT activity was set-up during the first wave of the pandemic (W1, March-April 2020) and became a structured healthcare model during the second (W2, October 2020-January 2021). The activity involved (1) infection transmission control among NHs residents and staff, (2) comprehensive geriatric assessment including prognostication and geriatric syndromes management, (3) on-site diagnostic assessment and protocol-based treatment of COVID-19, (4) supply of nursing personnel to understaffed NHs. To estimate the impact of the GIROT intervention, we reported hospitalization and infection lethality rates recorded in SARS-CoV-2-positive NH residents during W1 and W2. RESULTS: The GIROT activity involved 21 NHs (1159 residents) and 43 NHs (2448 residents) during W1 and W2, respectively. The percentage of infected residents was higher in W2 than in W1 (64.5% vs. 38.8%), while both hospitalization and lethality rates significantly decreased in W2 compared to W1 (10.1% vs 58.2% and 23.4% vs 31.1%, respectively). DISCUSSION: Potentiating on-site care in the NHs paralleled a decrease of hospital admissions with no increase of lethality. CONCLUSIONS: An innovative "hospital-at-nursing home" patient-centred care model based on comprehensive geriatric assessment may provide a valuable contribution in fighting COVID-19 in NH residents.

Long-term functional outcomes after cardiac rehabilitation in older patients. Data from the Cardiac Rehabilitation in Advanced aGE: EXercise TRaining and Active follow-up (CR-AGE EXTRA) randomised study.

AIM: Cardiac rehabilitation promotes functional recovery after cardiac events. Our study aimed at evaluating whether, compared to usual care, a home-based exercise programme with monthly reinforcement sessions adds long-term functional benefits to those obtained with cardiac rehabilitation in the elderly. METHODS: After a 4-week outpatient cardiac rehabilitation, 160 of 197 patients aged 75 years and older screened for eligibility with different indications for cardiac rehabilitation, were randomly assigned to a control (C) or an active treatment (T) group. During a 12-month follow-up, C patients received usual care, while T patients were prescribed a standardised set of home-based exercises with centre-based monthly reinforcements for the first 6 months. The main (peak oxygen consumption) and three secondary outcome measures (distance walked in 6 minutes, inferior limbs peak 90° Torque strength, health-related quality of life) were assessed at baseline, at random assignment and at 6 and 12-month follow-ups with the cardiopulmonary exercise test, 6-minute walking test, isokinetic dynamometer and the Short Form-36 questionnaire, respectively. RESULTS: Both C and T groups obtained a significant and similar improvement from baseline to the end of the 4-week cardiac rehabilitation programme in the three functional outcome measures. However, at univariable and age and gender-adjusted analysis of variance for repeated measures, changes from random assignment to 6 or 12-month follow-up in any outcome measure were similar in the C and T groups. CONCLUSION: Results from this randomised study suggest that a home-based exercise programme with monthly reinforcements does not add any long-term functional benefit beyond those offered by a conventional, 4-week outpatient cardiac rehabilitation programme. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrial.gov Identifier: NCT00641134.

Clinical impact of recovery room on post-operative walking performance in elderly patients submitted to hip surgery: a real-world analysis.

BACKGROUND: Strategies aimed at favouring functional recovery after surgery for hip fracture may be of clinical importance. AIMS: To test the clinical utility of a recovery room (RR) in terms of postoperative walking performance in an elderly population submitted to hip fracture surgery. METHODS: Postoperative walking performance at rollator was assessed in 242 consecutive orthogeriatric patients able to follow the institutional physiotherapy protocol starting on day 1 after hip surgery. Group 1 (n = 186, age 86.0 ± 9.3 years, 24.7% male) was admitted to the RR for postoperative monitoring, whereas Group 2 (n = 56, age 85.2 ± 5.7 years, 23.2% male) was directly admitted to the ward. The best performance observed during the first three postoperative days was considered. RESULTS: Group 1 showed a better walking performance than Group 2, with a 50% lower probability of walking < 5 m (relative risk 0.51, p = 0.0005) and a two-fold higher probability of walking > 10 m (relative risk 2.10, p = 0.0005). Multivariable analysis confirmed a favourable independent effect of the RR stay on walking performance (ß = 0.205, p = 0.005). DISCUSSION: Admission to the RR in elderly patients submitted to hip fracture surgery could have an independent beneficial effect on postoperative walking functional recovery. This beneficial effect could probably depend on the possibility of ensuring a more rapid management of postoperative issues CONCLUSIONS: These findings support the clinical utility of a RR implementation in facilities where hip surgery in elderly subjects is routinely performed.

Cardiac Rehabilitation in Very Old Adults: Effect of Baseline Functional Capacity on Treatment Effectiveness.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the effect of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) and identify predictors of changes in functional capacity with CR in a consecutive series of older adults with a recent cardiac event. DESIGN: Observational. SETTING: In-hospital CR unit. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals aged 75 and older referred to an outpatient CR Unit after an acute coronary event (unstable angina pectoris, acute myocardial infarction) or cardiac surgery (coronary artery bypass grafting, heart valve replacement or repair) (N = 160, mean age 80 ± 4). MEASUREMENTS: Peak oxygen consumption (VO2 peak, power) during a symptom-limited cardiopulmonary stress test, distance walked in a 6-minute walk test (6MWT, resistance), and peak torque (strength) using an isokinetic dynamometer, were assessed at baseline and at discharge from a 4-week supervised training program. RESULTS: Indexes of physical performance improved from baseline to discharge (VO2 peak, 10.9%; 6MWT, 11.0%; peak torque, 11.5%). Baseline performance was independently associated with changes in all three indexes, with higher baseline values predicting less improvement (VO2 peak: OR=0.86, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.77-0.97; 6MWT: OR= 0.99, 95% CI=0.99-1.00; peak torque: OR=0.96, 95% CI=0.94-0.98). CONCLUSION: An exercise-based CR program was associated with improvement in all domains of physical performance even in older adults after an acute coronary event or cardiac surgical intervention, particularly in those with poorer baseline performance.

[Treatment of very old patients with non valvular atrial fibrillation. The valuable opportunity offered by new oral anticoagulants, to be cautiously used]. / Il trattamento di pazienti molto anziani con fibrillazione atriale non valvolare. La preziosa opportunità offerta dai Nuovi Anticoagulanti Orali, da usare con attenzione.

Atrial Fibrillation (AF) is the most frequent cardiac arrhythmia and its incidence increases with age reaching a 10% prevalence in the oldest old. Patients with AF have a five-fold increase in the risk of stroke. Current guidelines on AF management recommend the prescription of oral anticoagulant therapy in patients at medium and high risk of thromboembolic events. Advanced age is a risk factor for stroke in AF, but despite clear evidences a high rate of OAT under prescription is reported and particularly in the oldest old. Among the main causes of this phenomenon an enhanced risk of bleeding is often reported: this due to several factors: risk of falls, the presence of comorbidity and polifarmacy and a reduction in compliance and adherence that are common in the elderly. In recent years the international scenario in the management of OAT has significantly changed since the introduction of the new oral anticoagulants (NOA): Dabigatran, a direct thrombin inhibitor, and two oral factor Xa inhibitors Rivaroxaban and Apixaban, which have all been tested in randomized clinical trial (RELY, ROCKET-AF e ARISTOTLE) which have demonstrated non inferiority compared to warfarin in the prevention of thromboembolic events with an optimal safety profile. NOA could be an important therapeutic opportunity for stroke prevention in elderly patients with AF even if the substantial differences in mean age, anthropometric measures and comorbidity of the patients enrolled in these trials compared with those of the real world setting, oblige some caution and discussion.

Notch signaling modulates hypoxia-induced neuroendocrine differentiation of human prostate cancer cells.

UNLABELLED: Prostate carcinoma is among the most common causes of cancer-related death in men, representing 15% of all male malignancies in developed countries. Neuroendocrine differentiation (NED) has been associated with tumor progression, poor prognosis, and with the androgen-independent status. Currently, no successful therapy exists for advanced, castration-resistant disease. Because hypoxia has been linked to prostate cancer progression and unfavorable outcome, we sought to determine whether hypoxia would impact the degree of neuroendocrine differentiation of prostate cancer cells in vitro. RESULTS: Exposure of LNCaP cells to low oxygen tension induced a neuroendocrine phenotype, associated with an increased expression of the transcription factor neurogenin3 and neuroendocrine markers, such as neuron-specific enolase, chromogranin A, and ß3-tubulin. Moreover, hypoxia triggered a significant decrease of Notch 1 and Notch 2 mRNA and protein expression, with subsequent downregulation of Notch-mediated signaling, as shown by reduced levels of the Notch target genes, Hes1 and Hey1. NED was promoted by attenuation of Hes1 transcription, as cells expressing a dominant-negative form of Hes1 displayed increased levels of neuroendocrine markers under normoxic conditions. Although hypoxia downregulated Notch 1 and Notch 2 mRNA transcription and receptor activation also in the androgen-independent cell lines, PC-3 and Du145, it did not change the extent of NED in these cultures, suggesting that androgen sensitivity may be required for transdifferentiation to occur. CONCLUSIONS: Hypoxia induces NED of LNCaP cells in vitro, which seems to be driven by the inhibition of Notch signaling with subsequent downregulation of Hes1 transcription.