Biomedical subjects

Stefania Bandinelli

Publications and source records attributed to Stefania Bandinelli.

58 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

PubMed2002

Understanding the physiological and functional consequences of menopause: the PROSALMEN study. PROgetto SALute MENopausa.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Women live longer and are more often affected by disability and poor health than men. The mechanism underlying this sex-related "mortality-morbidity" paradox is still unclear but it has been suggested that the physiological and functional changes occurring during the menopausal transition play an important role. The aim of PROSALMEN (PROgetto SALute MENopausa: Health in Menopause Project) is to study in great detail how these changes affect the integrity and function of the physiologic subsystems that are relevant to the maintenance of an active and healthy life-style during the aging process. METHODS: PROSALMEN is a cross-sectional comparison of age-matched pre- and post-menopausal women. Thirty post-menopausal women, aged 48-58 years, were enrolled in the study together with 30 age-matched pre-menopausal controls. A number of clinical, biological and functional parameters were collected assessing the integrity and level of function of the physiological subsystems that are important for mobility. Furthermore, we collected information on risk factors, medical conditions and symptoms that frequently develop or become clinically evident after menopause, including the most important elements of the classical post-menopausal syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: This rich dataset will be used to start dissecting the causal pathway leading from menopause to damages in the musculoskeletal system and, in turn, to reduced physical function. The final goal is to understand how and to what extent changes in health behavior and pharmacological treatments in addition to hormone replacement therapy (HRT) may counteract these processes.

Aging↗

PubMed2002

Changes in anthropometric measures in men and women across the life-span: findings from the InCHIANTI study.

OBJECTIVES: To describe the age distribution of anthropometric parameters in a population-based sample of older persons. METHODS: Cross-sectional survey of a population-based sample of persons over a wide age-range living in the Chianti area, Italy, between 1998 to 2000. Total cohort: 1453 men and women, of whom 424 younger than 65 and 1029 aged 65 years or older. Participation rate: 69.4% in < 65 yrs and 91.6% in > or = 65 yrs. Analytical cohort: anthropometric measures were available for 1266 subjects. RESULTS: Height and weight declined with increasing age in both sexes. In men, Body mass index (BMI) increased with age up to age 45-54 and then it declined. In women, it reached its maximum at age 65-74 and remained higher than in men in each corresponding age group above 65 years of age. Waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) progressively increased in men up to age 55-64 and then slightly declined. In women WHR steadily increased over the entire age range. CONCLUSIONS: Height and weight decline with age, regardless to differences in body size attributable to secular trend. In both sexes, important fat redistribution occurs between 45 and 54 years and in older women the increase in WHR mostly reflects a reduction of fat deposits in the hips. This information may be relevant for a correct interpretation of changes in WHR in older persons. However, these findings were obtained in a cross-sectional study and should be verified in a longitudinal perspective.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Dietary intake estimated using different methods in two Italian older populations.

Most of the tools used to assess nutritional intake in large epidemiological studies were originally developed to be used in young and middle-aged subjects and, therefore, their validity and reliability when employed in older subjects remain uncertain. We conducted this study to verify whether the questionnaire developed in the context of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and nutrition (EPIC) could be used to assess dietary intake in the participants of InCHIANTI, an epidemiological study of risk factors for disability in late life, performed in 633 men (78% aged, > or =65 years) and 802 women (81% aged, > or =65 years) randomly sampled from the general population. In particular, the aim of this project was to collect preliminary information that could support a future study of concurrent validity. Data on food consumption assessed using the EPIC questionnaire from the InCHIANTI participants were compared with those collected using a 7-day diary in the National Nutritional Investigation into Dietary Behavior (INN-CA), a study conducted in 15 Italian centres aimed at assessing Italian households' and individuals' dietary intake. In spite of different populations and different methods used in data collection, the distributions of dietary intake from the two studies were remarkably similar for most macro- and micro-nutrients, both in men and women and according to age groups. At a population level, a food frequency questionnaire and a costly and time-consuming objective method provided similar estimates of dietary intake. Future study should attempt to generalize these findings at an individual level by collecting data with both instruments in the same subjects.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Prevalence of dementia in Tuscany: results from four population-based epidemiological studies].

OBJECTIVE: to provide information on epidemiology of dementia in Tuscany needed to plan for dedicated health and social services. DESIGN: analysis of pooled baseline data from 4 population-based longitudinal studies. SETTING: 4 municipalities in Tuscany. PARTICIPANTS: 4,056 elderly subjects enrolled in 4 longitudinal studies. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: age- and sex-specific dementia prevalence rates and estimated number of demented people, by degree of cognitive impairment and BADL disability in the elderly population of Tuscany. RESULTS: out of the evaluated subjects, 293 are demented. Prevalence of dementia increases from about 1 % in the 65-69 age group to about 28 % in the 90+ age group both among women and men. About 43% of the demented study subjects suffer from severe mental deterioration (MMSE < 14) and56% are disabled in at least one Basic Activity of Daily Living (BADL). We estimate that about 19 thousand demented elderly men and 40 thousand demented elderly women are currently living in Tuscany of whom 26 thousand severely mentally impaired and 34 thousand disabled in at least one BADL. The resulting overall dementia prevalence standardised on the Italian 65+ population is 5,3% for men and 7,7% for women. CONCLUSIONS: these estimates could be used as a basis for the evaluation and the planning of social and health care services dedicated to demented people.

Aged↗