Granadero Baigorria is a city in the south of the province of Santa Fe, Argentina, located directly north of Rosario, on the western shore of the Paraná River, and forming part of the Greater Rosario metropolitan area. Its population is about 43,000 inhabitants (2015).Granadero Baigorria is named after Juan Bautista Baigorria, a cavalry soldier of the Mounted Grenadiers (Granaderos a Caballo) who fought for General José de San Martín in the battle of San Lorenzo on 3 February 1813, the first of the Argentine War of Independence..
Introduction: cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death among women worldwide. However, awareness of this condition, even within the healthcare sector itself, appears to be insufficient. The main objective of this study was to identify the perception of cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death among female healthcare professionals. Methods: descriptive, cross-sectional study conducted between 2020 and 2021. Argentine female health care professionals with access to electronic devices and the internet were included. Results: the final sample consisted of 1,089 surveys. The mean age was 43.1 +/- 10.8 years, and the mean time since graduation was 16.2 +/- 10.7 years. A total of 58.7% were involved in teaching activities, and 1.2% were retired. Cardiovascular disease was not identified as the leading cause of death in women by 62.5% of participants. Only 25.9% had primary care physicians. Moreover, 59.3% reported not having undergone a clinical check-up in the previous year, and 59.9% indicated seeking informal consultations with colleagues to address health concerns. Blood pressure measurement was reported in 18.6% of gynecological visits and 62.7% of clinical check-ups. Conclusions: six out of ten health care professionals did not recognize cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death among women. Self-care practice was low. Blood pressure measurement during medical check-ups was infrequently reported.
ObjectiveTo assess the effect of antimalarials (AMs) on overall damage and on its most frequently affected domains, as measured by the Systemic Lupus International Collaborating Clinics Damage Index (SDI) in patients from the GLADEL cohort.MethodsNew damage was defined as a ≥1 point increase in SDI since cohort entry. AMs users were those who received AMs for at least 6 months after entering the cohort. AMs users and non-users were matched for age, sex, ethnicity, and baseline SDI using stratified random sampling. Two comparisons were carried out: patients with and without new damage, and AM users versus non-users. Propensity score matching was used to determine the effect of AM use on the most frequently affected damage domains.ResultsA total of 850 patients were included; 419 (49.3%) were AM users and 431 (50.7%) non-users. During a median follow-up of 48.5 (IQR 19.3, 69.0) months, 472 (55.5%) developed damage. The most affected domains were skin (18.4%), renal (14.6%), neuropsychiatric (10.8%), musculoskeletal (6.9%), and cardiovascular (4.5%). AMs use was associated with a lower proportion of patients accruing damage at follow-up (170 [40.6%] vs 208 [48.3%]; p = .028). AMs were protective against overall damage (HR 0.7, 95% CI [0.5-0.9]; p = .002), renal (HR 0.4, 95% CI [0.3-0.6]; p < .001), and neuropsychiatric damage (HR 0.5, 95% CI [0.3-0.9]; p = .022).ConclusionAM use is independently associated with a lower probability of overall, renal, and neuropsychiatric damage accrual. These findings support early and sustained AM treatment in lupus patients, unless contraindicated.
OBJECTIVE:Hot flashes are among the most common symptoms of the menopausal transition and have traditionally been considered benign and self-limiting. However, increasing evidence suggests that they may indicate broader neurovascular and inflammatory dysregulation linked to reproductive aging. The possible effect of hot flush severity on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) remains inadequately studied, particularly in Latin American populations. This study aimed to examine the association between hot flash severity and HRQoL in middle-aged women using validated tools and a large, multicenter sample. METHOD:A cross-sectional study was conducted between June 2024 and January 2025 in 30 healthcare centers across 12 Latin American countries. A total of 3523 women aged 40-60 years were assessed using the Menopause Rating Scale (MRS) to evaluate vasomotor symptoms and the Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36) to measure HRQoL. Multivariable logistic regression models were utilized to estimate the association between hot flush severity and low HRQoL, adjusting for sociodemographic, behavioral and clinical covariates. RESULTS:Increasing severity of hot flushes was significantly associated with lower HRQoL scores across all SF-36 domains. In the logistic regression analysis, mild hot flushes (MRS item 1 score = 1) were associated with increased odds of impaired HRQoL (odds ratio [OR] 1.29; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08-1.55), whereas very severe symptoms (MRS item 1 score = 4) demonstrated a substantially stronger association (OR 4.10; 95% CI: 2.93-5.74). Additional factors significantly associated with lower HRQoL included physical inactivity, the presence of comorbidities, obesity, current use of psychotropic medication, age ≥50 years and having two or more children. CONCLUSION:Hot flush severity is a strong and independent determinant of HRQoL in midlife women. These findings underscore the need for systematic assessment and targeted management of vasomotor symptoms in routine care, supporting the hypothesis that hot flashes may be a clinical marker of systemic aging.
Introduction Idiopathic inflammatory myopathies (IIM) are a heterogeneous group of autoimmune diseases. Anti-signal recognition particle (anti-SRP) antibodies are present in approximately 5% of IIM and define a phenotype with severe proximal weakness and a rapidly progressive course. Data on Latin American cohorts are scarce. Patients and methods Descriptive, multicenter, cross-sectional study. Patients with anti-SRP-positive IIM fulfilling the 2017 EULAR/ACR criteria were included from the registry of the Myositis Study Group of the Argentine Society of Rheumatology (GESAR). Demographic, clinical, laboratory, and treatment data were collected. Continuous variables are reported as median and interquartile range (IQR); categorical variables as frequencies and percentages. Results Of 363 patients with IIM, 17 (4.7%) were anti-SRP positive; 88.2% were women, median age 56 years (IQR 49–69), median diagnostic delay 6 months (IQR 1–18). Immune-mediated necrotizing myopathy was the most frequent classification (64.7%). Muscle weakness was documented in 56.3%, dysphagia in 50.0%, articular involvement in 25.0%, respiratory muscle weakness in 17.6%, and interstitial lung disease in 12.5% (all non-specific interstitial pneumonia). No cardiac involvement was reported. Creatine kinase was elevated in 66.7% of patients with available measurements; no additional myositis-specific autoantibodies were detected. Treatments included glucocorticoids (88.2%), methotrexate (47.1%), azathioprine (35.3%), rituximab (29.4%), and intravenous immunoglobulin (23.5%). Hospitalization due to myositis was required in 52.9%. Conclusions In this Argentine multicenter cohort, anti-SRP-positive IIM was characterized by severe proximal weakness, frequent dysphagia, and a high hospitalization rate. The use of rituximab and intravenous immunoglobulin in nearly one-third of patients reflects the need for treatment-intensive approaches.
BACKGROUND:Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a severe, systemic chronic rheumatic disease, and it is important for each country and/or region to develop management recommendations adapted to its needs and resources. OBJECTIVES:To update the Argentine treatment recommendations for the management of patients with RA. METHODS:The working group comprised a principal investigator, 8 methodologists and 23 expert rheumatologists. Seventy-one PICO questions were developed. A systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted using the Medline (PubMed), LILACS, and Cochrane Library databases. Grey literature was also searched. The evidence was appraised using the GRADE methodology. Voting was anonymous and conducted virtually, and recommendations required at least 70% agreement to achieve consensus. RESULTS:A total of 21 recommendations were developed, addressing Mediterranean diet, subcutaneous versus oral methotrexate, and therapeutic strategies across different clinical scenarios, including: csDMARD naive, inadequate response (IR) to csDMARD, IR to b/tsDMARD (cycling versus swapping), monotherapy, tapering in patients with sustained remission, and management of patients with concomitant interstitial lung disease or rheumatoid vasculitis. In most cases, the levels of evidence and degrees of agreement were moderate. CONCLUSIONS:These recommendations are intended to be a practical tool to assist rheumatologists in making the most appropriate treatment decisions for their patients.
