Doha Rasheedy

Cardiac autonomic neuropathy: The hidden cardiovascular comorbidity in elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease attending primary care settings.

To quantify the prevalence of chronic comorbidities including cardiac autonomic neuropathy among elderly patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Cross-cultural adaptation of an Arabic version of the 10-item hearing handicap inventory

Abstract Objective: The purpose of this study was to translate and culturally adapt an Arabic version of the hearing handicap inventory for the elderly - screening (HHIE-S). Design: The HHIE-S was translated following cross-cultural adaptation guidelines, and pretested in 20 elderly patients with hearing impairment. Next, the adapted Arabic HHIE-S underwent psychometric evaluation. The results were confirmed by pure-tone audiometer (PTA) examination. The patients completed the HHIE-S again after one hour. The validation of the questionnaire using Cronbachs alpha (internal consistency), (construct validity), and intraclass correlation coefficients (repeatability) was performed. Study sample: Twenty elderly subjects with hearing impairment were recruited for the pretesting stage, and 100 elderly subjects were recruited for the psychometric evaluation stage. Patients with acute illness, functional dependency, cognitive impairment, and previous users of hearing aids were excluded. Results: The adapted Arabic HHIE-S showed good internal consistency (α = 0.902). Construct validity was good, as high correlations were found between the scale and the PTA outcome (r = 0.688, p = 0.000). Repeatability was high (ICC = 0.986). Conclusions: This study showed that the adapted Arabic HHIE-S is a valid and reliable questionnaire for the assessment of handicapping hearing impairment in Egyptian elderly patients.

Normative data for healthy adult performance on the Egyptian-Arabic Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination III

IntroductionThe Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Examination III (ACE-III) (2012) is a brief cognitive battery that assesses various aspects of cognition. Its five subdomains (attention and orientation, memory, verbal fluency, language and visuospatial abilities) are commonly impaired in Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. ObjectiveThe aim of the study was to provide normative data for healthy adult performance on Egyptian–Arabic ACE-III. Participants and methodsWe adapted the ACE-III (2012) to the Egyptian population. We evaluated this version on 139 cognitively healthy volunteers aged 20 years or older (54.7% male and 45.3% female). We stratified the participants both by age (<60 years and >60 years) and by degree of education (basic, secondary or university education). None of the participants had any complaints of cognitive decline. ResultsWe established normative data for healthy Egyptian adults below 60 years and above 60 years on each of the subdomains of the ACE-III. The data generated from the performance was assigned according to percentiles. We found a significant difference (P<0.001) between the performance of older and younger adults on the category task of the verbal fluency test. ConclusionBy adapting the ACE-III to the Egyptian–Arabic population, we were able to establish normative data for healthy Egyptian adults.

Effects of age, education, and gender on verbal fluency in healthy adult Arabic-speakers in Egypt.

ABSTRACT The objective of this study is to establish the effects of age, gender, and education and to provide preliminary normative data for letter and category fluency tasks in the Egyptian Arabic-speaking population. We evaluated 139 cognitively healthy volunteers aged 20–93 by adapting the letter and category verbal fluency tasks for the Egyptian population. On the letter fluency task, mean number of words generated in one-minute beginning with the Arabic letter “Sheen” (pronounced “sh”) was 8.14 words per minute (SD = 3.25). Letter fluency was significantly influenced by education. On category fluency tasks, mean number of animal names generated in one minute was 14.63 words (SD = 5.28). Category fluency was significantly influenced by age and education. We were able identify that age significantly affects category fluency while education significantly affected both letter and category fluency. We were also able to provide preliminary normative data for both tasks in the Egyptian population.

Nutrition in the Hospitalized Elderly

Abstract Nutrition is a major predictor of hospitalization outcomes in the elderly population. However, malnutrition is a prevalent problem encountered in this setting. Aging itself along with health status and hospital related environmental factors determine the nutritional state of the patient. In order to prevent the negative consequences related to malnutrition, clinicians should attempt early recognition of the patients at risk. Careful nutritional assessment and subsequent planned individualized nutritional intervention are necessary immediately upon admission and on a regular basis during the hospital stay and may be necessary to continue after discharge. The purpose of this article is to provide clinicians with an overview of some issues in nutrition for hospitalized elderly. Here, we provide a brief overview on major pathways involved in the pathogenesis of malnutrition in different hospital settings. Finally, the most popular screening nutritional tools, the structured comprehensive nutritional assessment, and the basis of nutritional interventional plan are also illustrated.

Prognostic Value of Hyponatremia in Elderly Patients with Acute Coronary Syndrome

Objectives: to analyse in-hospital outcomes and prognostic implications of reduced sodium serum level (S-Na) in patients with acute coronary syndrome including ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non ST elevation myocardial infarction (non-STEMI). Design: A cross sectional study was conducted on elderly patients. Participants: One hundred patients aged > 60 years, both males and females. Setting: Participants were recruited from cardiology intensive care unit in Ain Shams University

Abdominal Aortic Diameter and the Risk for Asymptomatic Peripheral Arterial Disease in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes

Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is common among older people because it often results from atherosclerosis, which becomes more common with age. The disease is particularly common among people who have diabetes. Little information is available on the relation between abdominal aortic diameter and PAD in elderly patients with diabetes. This article studies the relationships between abdominal aortic diameter, PAD, and the cardiovascular risk factors in asymptomatic elderly patients suffering from type 2 diabetes mellitus. A case-control study was conducted on 90 participants aged 60 years and older divided into 60 cases (30 males and 30 females) and 30 age-matched healthy controls (15 males and 15 females). The relationships between the size of the abdominal aorta and ankle-brachial index (ABI), plasma cholesterol, triglycerides (TG), and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein were examined. Approximately, 15% of patients with diabetes had asymptomatic PAD. The patients with diabetes with PAD were of older age (70.4 ± 3.6 vs. 63.4 ± 3.9 years; p = 0.000), had larger abdominal aortic diameter (22.4 ± 3.08 vs. 18.7 ± 2 mm; p = 0.000), and higher CRP levels (8.3 ± 1.1 vs. 5.8 ± 2.2 mg/L; p = 0.002), while other variables revealed no significant difference. Abdominal aortic diameter correlated well with ABI measured by Doppler method in diabetic patients (r =  - 0.471, p = 0.000). Older age and larger abdominal aorta are independent risk factors for asymptomatic PAD in the elderly with type 2 diabetes mellitus.