Marcello Barbosa Otoni Gonçalves Guedes

Validation of the two minute step test for diagnosis of the functional capacity of hypertensive elderly persons

1 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Departamento de Saúde Coletiva, Programa de Pósgraduação em Saúde Coletiva. Natal, RN, Brasil. 2 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde do Trairi, Santa Cruz, RN, Brasil. 3 Faculdade Maurício de Nassau, Curso de Fisioterapia. Natal, RN, Brasil. 4 Faculdade de Ciências Médicas de Minas Gerais, Curso de Medicina. Belo Horizonte, MG, Brasil. 5 Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Norte, Faculdade de Ciências da Saúde do Trairi, Curso de Fisioterapia. Santa Cruz, RN, Brasil.Objectives : To analyze the accuracy of the 2 minute step test in the diagnosis of the normal functional capacity (FC) of hypertensive elderly individuals or hypertensive elderly individuals with other associated chronic conditions (ACC). Methods : An observational diagnosis type study of 101 subjects, 41 of whom were hypertensive and 60 of whom were normotensive, was carried out. Receiver Operating Characteristic curves (ROC) were constructed based on the normal FC variable. Results : For hypertensive patients, the 2MST, with an under the ROC curve area of 0.7 (95% CI: 0.50 to 0.87, p = 0.04), proved to be accurate at diagnosing FC. Among hypertensive individuals with an elevation of 69, sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 54% were observed. The 2MST was accurate at predicting normal FC among hypertensive patients with ACC, with an under the ROC curve area of 0.88 (95% CI: 0.69 to 1.00, p= 0.02). With an elevation of 65 the sensitivity was 83% and the specificity was 67%. Conclusions : The 2MST revealed good sensitivity and specificity when assessing the FC of elderly hypertensive individuals and elderly hypertensive patients with ACC, which was not the case among normotensive elderly persons.

Análise da produção científica da Revista Brasileira de Geriatria e Gerontologia: uma revisão bibliométrica

OBJECTIVE: To describe and analyze the profile of publications of the Brazilian Journal of Geriatrics and Gerontology (RBGG) between years 2006 to 2013. METHOD: This is a survey of literature review, descriptive type with bibliometric analysis of scientific production of RBGG. Data collection was performed by three trained investigators. The editorial staff was contacted via e-mail to get information regarding the number of manuscripts received, rejected and accepted. RESULTS: It published a total of 400 articles, of which 301 (75.3%) were original articles and 42 (10.5%) reviews. Most studies (95.1%) were published by Brazilian authors, most of whom are from the Southeast (43.4%) and South (26.8%), concentrated in the states of Sao Paulo (19.8%), Rio Grande do Sul (15.6%) and Rio de Janeiro (12.0%). Most works had quantitative approach and the most frequent type of study is the cross-sectional (45.9%), followed by literature review (13.7%) and a number of observational cases (10.7%). There was an increase in time of publication between 2006 and 2011, followed by stability until 2013. The most common themes were related to the psychological aspects of aging, physical activity and nutrition. CONCLUSIONS: There has been observed continuing increase in the number of papers received and published in RBGG in this period. The production is focused mainly in the universities at the national scope in the Southeastern and Southern regions. A wide range of topics was also identified.