De oudere patiënt met hartfalen en de rol van bètablokkers bij de behandeling

Tijdschrift voor Gerontologie en Geriatrie - In this article different aspects of chronic heart failure in old age are described. We mainly focus on the place of beta-blocker therapy in chronic...     

Detectie en preventie van kwetsbaarheid: Op zoek naar risicoprofielen voor fysieke,psychische, sociale en omgevingskwetsbaarheid

In order to provide proactive care and support for older people attention is needed for the prevention of frailty among older adults. Subsequently, accurate case finding of those who are more at risk of becoming frail is crucial to undertake specific preventive actions. This study investigates frailty and risk profiles of frailty among older people in order to support proactive detection. Hereby, frailty is conceived not only as a physical problem, but also refers to emotional, social, and environmental hazards. Using data generated from the Belgian Ageing Studies (N = 21,664 home-dwelling older people), a multinomial logistic regression model was tested which included socio-demographic and socio-economic indicators as well as the four dimensions of frailty (physical, social, psychological and environmental). Findings indicate that for both men and women having moved in the previous 10 years and having a lower household income are risk factors of becoming multidimensional frail. However, studying the different frailty domains, several risk profiles arise (e.?g. marital status is important for psychological frailty), and gender-specific risk groups are detected (e.?g. non-married men). This paper elaborates on practical implications and formulates a number of future research recommendations to tackle frailty in an ageing society.     

Preventie en behandeling van osteoporose bij kortdurende revalidatie in het verpleeghuis: een taak voor de verpleeghuisarts

Prevention and treatment of osteoporosis in short stay departments of nursing homes: a nursing home physician’s task. This research shows that nursing home physicians might play an important part in the diagnostics and treatment of vitamin-D deficiency. 96 rehabilitating elderly who had undergone a hip operation were investigated. 36% had a vitamin-D deficiency (vitamin-D<30nmol/l). Vitamin-D deficiency was 53 % in the fracture group and 26 % in the arthritis group. Deficiencies were treated with vitamin-D medication. After the patient’s discharge the general practitioner was sent a questionnaire. The results show that general practitioners agree to nursing home physicians’ investigating vitamin-D deficiencies and to nursing home physicians’ initiating vitamin-D medication in case of a deficiency. The general practitioners themselves do not often investigate vitamin-D deficiency. Tijdschr Gerontol Geriatr 2007; 38:147-153     

Atypische presentatie van depressie leidend tot vertraging in de behandeling

Major depression can present with atypical symptomatology and as a consequence, delay can occur in passing through the relevant algorithm for biological treatment. The case of a 62-year old female is presented who eventually was diagnosed with a major depressive episode, with psychotic features. The atypical presentation led to persistent diagnostic uncertainty both during outpatient treatment in several mental health care institutions and during inpatient observation. As a consequence, proceeding to the next step of the algorithm for biological treatment for major depression was delayed. Factors involved in this diagnostic uncertainty are discussed.     

Rivastigmine als ondersteuning bij het dilemma van de behandeling van hallucinaties optredend bij ziekte van Parkinson

We report three cases of patients with Parkinson’s disease without dementia, admitted to our hospital because of hallucinations. The anti-Parkinson medication was adapted and the patients started with rivastigmine. As a result, hallucinations no longer occurred. A 79 years old man also required short-term quetiapine because of agitation and anti-Parkinson doses were without side effects, as a result of which mobility improved. An 84 years old woman reported mild side effects of rivastigmine, without consequences, whereas her mobility appeared to be good. A 72 years old woman reported mild memory problems upon admission, which improved during admission, as did her mobility after increasing the anti-Parkinson medication doses. Treatment of rivastigmine can be useful in the therapeutic dilemma in the treatment of hallucinations in patients with Parkinson’s disease (start anti-psychotic or reduce anti-Parkinson medication). In addition to adapting anti-Parkinson doses and sometimes short-term treating with an anti-psychotic, treatment with rivastigmine appears to be a quick improvement, without serious side effects. Also, mobility can improve, due to the possibility of increasing the anti-Parkinson doses, if necessary. Because of the many remaining questions, prospective randomised trials are needed.     

Over de techniek van de bacteriologische diagnose der diphtherie

Ohne ZusammenfassungGedeeltelijk voorgedragen in de vergadering van de Ned. Vereeniging voor Microbiologie, gehouden op 11 Juni 1932 te Baarn.