La depresión postsíndrome coronario agudo (post-SCA) aumenta el riesgo cardíaco; sin embargo, la eficacia de las terapias antidepresivas para su tratamiento no está suficientemente demostrada. Nuestro objetivo es metaanalizar ensayos controlados con muestras homogéneas que permitan explicar la inconsistencia de los resultados obtenidos hasta el momento. Tras revisar 1525 artículos, dos revisores independientes identificaron 7 estudios que cumplían criterios muy restrictivos para asegurar la homogeneidad de las muestras. Los resultados indicaron que los pacientes tratados con intervenciones de eficacia demostrada para la depresión reducen sus niveles de trastorno depresivo significativamente más que los sujetos sin este tratamiento, y que existen diferencias significativas en el número de pacientes que reducen los síntomas depresivos de forma clínicamente relevante. Además, se observaron menos eventos cardiovasculares adversos durante el tratamiento, aunque esta diferencia fue mínimamente significativa y no se mantuvo tras el seguimiento. Estos resultados sugieren que la inconsistencia de los datos actualmente disponibles podría deberse a dificultades metodológicas que evidencian la necesidad de nuevas investigaciones que aclaren el efecto del tratamiento de la depresión sobre el pronóstico post-SCA.

Suicide is a major public health problem, especially among individuals over 50 years old. Despite the suitability of this life stage for prevention, research on the efficacy of psychological interventions is scarce and methodologically limited, affecting their clinical utility and efficacy. Brief, flexible interventions that can be applied both in-person and remotely are needed. This study aims to evaluate the efficacy of a brief problem-solving-based suicide prevention program applied through various modalities to individuals over 50 years old. A randomized controlled trial will be conducted. A sample of 212 adults aged 50 or older with suicidal ideation will be randomly assigned to a problem-solving-based psychological intervention administered face-to-face (PSPI-P; n = 53), by telephone multiconference (PSPI-M; n = 53), via a smartphone app (PSPI-A; n = 53), or to a usual care control group (UCCG; n = 53). The intervention will be delivered in 7 sessions or modules of 90 min each. Blind trained evaluators will conduct assessments at pre-intervention, post-intervention, and follow-ups at 3, 6, and 12 months. The primary outcome will be suicidal ideation evaluated using the Suicidal Ideation Scale (SSI) and the Columbia Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS). Secondary outcomes will include hopelessness, anxiety and depression symptoms, reasons for living, impulsivity, problem-solving skills, social support, anger syndrome, gratitude, personality, dropouts, treatment adherence, and satisfaction with the intervention. This study will provide evidence of the efficacy of a brief problem-solving-based intervention for suicide prevention in individuals over 50 years old, administered face-to-face, by telephone multiconference, and via a smartphone app. If results are favorable, it will indicate that an effective, accessible, clinically and socially useful suicide prevention intervention has been developed for affected individuals, families, and communities. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT06338904. Registered April 1, 2024.

Depression post-acute coronary syndrome (ACS) increases cardiac risk; however, the efficacy of antidepressant therapies for its treatment has not been sufficiently demonstrated. Our aim is to meta-analyze controlled trials with homogeneous samples that allow us to explain the inconsistency of the results obtained so far. After reviewing 1525 articles, two independent reviewers identified 7 studies that met very restrictive criteria to ensure homogeneity of the samples. The results indicated that patients treated with interventions of proven efficacy for the depression, reduce their levels of depressive disorder significantly more than subjects without this treatment and that there are significant differences in the number of patients who reduce depressive symptoms in a clinically relevant way. In addition, fewer adverse cardiovascular events were observed during treatment, although this difference was minimally significant and was not maintained after the follow-up. These results suggest that the inconsistency of the currently available data could be due to methodological difficulties evidencing the need for further research to clarify the effect of depression treatment on post-ACS prognosis.

IntroductionAlthough previous research has demonstrated that resilience can be protective against various mental health conditions such as depression, existing studies examining the relationship between resilience and depression have limitations. To our knowledge, the moderators of the relationship have not been examined. The aim of this study was to determine whether resilience acts as a protective factor against depression in informal caregivers and to examine potential moderators of the relationship between these variables.MethodsIn this cross-sectional study, 554 randomly selected informal caregivers participated (86.8% women, average age = 55.3 years). Major depressive episode, depressive symptomatology, resilience, positive environmental reward, negative automatic thoughts, self-efficacy, and personality were assessed.ResultsA total of 16.1% of informal caregivers met criteria for a depressive episode and 57.4% were at risk of developing depression. The average resilience score was 26.3 (SD = 7.6); 62.6% of participants were in the lower quartile of the resilience scale. The gender of the informal caregiver and self-efficacy acted as moderating variables in the relationship between resilience and depression. The impact of resilience on depressive symptoms was more pronounced in female informal caregivers, and increased as self-efficacy increased.DiscussionBased on these findings, programs aimed at preventing depression in informal caregivers should focus on promoting resilience, especially in women, and introduce strategies to enhance self-efficacy to increase their impact.

Most European rewilding initiatives are based on the recovery of large herbivores, particularly European bison Bison bonasus, aiming at restoring ecosystem processes and increase trophic complexity. The growing support for the release of bison as a wild species, and change its legal status, in Spain, as an ecological analogue of the extinct steppe bison Bison priscus, makes it an excellent example to reflect the limits of a rewilding biogeographically advisable. We discuss if this initiative could be justified from ecological, biogeographical, ethical, and legal reasons. Besides remarkable taxonomic and functional differences between both bison species, the Mediterranean environment, under the present and future climatic scenarios, does not suit the European bison. Furthermore, there is no evidence to support the presumption that the European bison was ever present in the Iberian Peninsula, with legal implications. We expect that our approach will be inspirational for similar assessments on rewilding initiatives globally.

Background Due to the accessibility barriers of in-person programs for active aging, the development of programs that use innovative technologies is needed. Video games can be an engaging tool for disseminating active aging interventions. Objective The objective of this pilot study was to analyze the feasibility of a cognitive–behavioral intervention to promote active aging administered through a video game. Methods Fifty-five participants (63.6% women, mean age = 53.0 years) were randomly assigned to a cognitive–behavioral intervention to promote active aging administered through an interactive multimedia online video game with a complementary app (CBI-V; n = 29) or to a control group that received nonspecific online information (CG; n = 26). Results Only 3.6% of the participants dropped out of the study (6.9% in CBI-V and 0.0% in CG; without significant differences between groups). The mean number of modules completed was 7.6 (SD = 0.9) out of 8 in the CBI-V and 7.9 (SD = 0.5) in the control group (CG), without significant between-group differences. In the CBI-V, the mean total time dedicated to the game was 516.8 min (SD = 94.3), including 143.2 min (SD = 31.6) of cognitive training tasks, and the mean of completed tasks was 206.2 (SD = 33.7) out of 259. Participants were highly engaged (M = 39.9, SD = 8.6) and satisfied (M = 25.8, SD = 4.5) with the intervention. After the intervention, the CBI-V group significantly improved on SF-36 dimensions of General Health (p = .0386), Vitality (p = .0283), Social Functioning (p = .0130), and Physical Summary Index (p = .0370) compared to the CG, with medium effect sizes (d = 0.56–0.75). Conclusions The results demonstrate the feasibility of the video game intervention to promote active aging and encourage conducting a large-scale randomized controlled trial.

Although sleep issues are among the symptoms commonly experienced by the non-professional caregiver population, and the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) is the most widely used instrument for the assessment of sleep quality, this has not been validated specifically for this population. The objective of this study was to analyze the factorial structure and psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the PSQI in a sample of Spanish non-professional caregivers. Trained clinical psychologists assessed sleep quality using the PSQI, as well as caregiver burden and psychological distress in 201 non-professional caregivers (87.1% female, Mage = 56.2 years). The internal consistency of the PSQI was 0.75. The two-factor model (Sleep quality and Disturbances) had an acceptable fit to the data, was found to be superior to the one-factor model, and more parsimonious than the three-factor model. There was a significant correlation between the PSQI and caregiver burden, as well as between the PSQI and psychological distress (p < 0.001 in all cases). A total score ≥ 9 allowed the identification of caregivers with possible anxiety and depression disorders (sensitivity 70.5%, specificity 71.9%). The results show that the PSQI is a reliable and valid instrument for the assessment of sleep quality in caregivers.

This case-control study analyzed the sleep disturbance, psychological distress and perceived burden in female family caregivers of dependent people with dementia (n = 74) compared with female family caregivers of dependent people without dementia (n = 74) and with age-matched non-caregiver control females (n = 74). Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) and an ad hoc questionnaire to collect sociodemographic data. There were significant differences between the groups in PSQI total (F = 24.93; p < 0.001), psychological distress (F = 26.71; p < 0.001) and in all sleep domains assessed: subjective sleep quality (F = 16.19; p < 0.001), sleep latency (F = 9.5; p< 0.001), sleep duration (F = 18.57; p < 0.001), habitual sleep efficiency (F = 19.77; p < 0.001), sleep disturbances (F = 9.22; p < 0.001), use of sleep medications (F = 4.24; p< 0.01) and daytime dysfunction (F = 5.57; p < 0.01). In all measures, the female family caregivers of dependent people with dementia showed the significantly higher mean scores. Regarding the two groups of female caregivers, statistically significant differences were found in daily hours of care (t = −2.45; p < 0.05) and perceived burden (t = −3.65; p < 0.001), as well as in the following dimensions of caregiver burden: time-dependence burden (t = −5.09; p < 0.001), developmental burden (t = −2.42; p < 0.05) and physical burden (t = −2.89; p < 0.01). These findings suggest that female family caregivers of dependent patients with dementia should be subject to psychopathological screening and preventive cognitive-behavioral interventions in clinical practice in primary health care.

This study aimed to determine the prevalence and associated factors of poor sleep quality in non-professional caregivers. With this purpose, cross-sectional data were collected from 201 dependent people’s family caregivers using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI), the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12), and an ad hoc questionnaire to obtain sociodemographic data. A total of 153 family caregivers were categorized as poor sleepers (PSQI > 5), resulting in a prevalence of poor sleep quality of 76.1% (95% CI = 70.5–82.5). Poor sleepers were more likely to care for persons with mental disorders (χ2 = 7.31; p < 0.01) and scored significantly higher on perceived burden (z = −4.44; p < 0.001), psychological distress (z = −6.24; p < 0.001), and in all the PSQI subscales (p < 0.001), compared with good sleepers (PSQI ≤ 5). By contrast, no differences were found between poor and good sleepers in age, gender, years providing care, and daily hours of care. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the factors of caregiver burden (β = 0.15; p < 0.05) and psychological distress (β = 0.53; p < 0.001) were significantly associated with sleep quality in dependent people’s family caregivers. Cognitive-behavioral strategies to improve sleep quality in the primary health care of family caregivers are suggested.

Motivational processes and emotional self-regulation are relevant factors for predicting the practice of physical exercise and for certain health-related parameters. The aim of the present work, developed along two different phases, was, on the one hand, to determine the prevalence of physical inactivity and, on the other hand, to carry out a comparative analysis between physically active and inactive university students in relation to their motivational determinants, emotional self-regulation, physical condition, health-related quality of life and other health parameters. The results obtained showed a prevalence of physical inactivity of 12.78%. Physically inactive participants showed significantly lower scores in intrinsic motivation, emotion regulation, and in some dimensions of health-related quality of life, as well as significantly high levels of body fat mass. Lastly, logistic regression analysis identified low scores in Emotional Clarity (p= .009) and Identified Regulation (p = .011), and high scores in Amotivation (p = .006) as reliable predictors of a physically inactive lifestyle. These results are useful for the design and implementation of programs aimed at promoting health and physical activity, with special attention on physically inactive youth populations.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the impact of biofeedback therapy on evacuation difficulty level and the pain grade during defecation of elderly female patients with dyssynergic defecation. With this aim, after one month of initial assessment, 16 chronically constipated female patients with dyssynergic defecation were randomized to either a electromyographic biofeedback group (n = 8) or to a conventional treatment group (n = 8). The results showed a significant decrease in the evacuation difficulty level and pain grade during defecation following behavioral treatment through biofeedback. At the same time, the treatment produced significant improvements in the weekly stool frequency and a decrease in the mean electromyographic (EMG) activity (µV) of the external anal sphincter during straining to defecate. Clinical gains were maintained during the follow-up carried out six months later.

The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of primary insomnia in female family caregivers of totally dependent patients with dementia, and to examine the relation between this sleep disorder and a number of characteristics of the caregivers, care recipients, and caregiving situations. The participants were 134 female caregivers, who answered a diagnostic interview according to DSM-IVTR diagnostic criteria. The functional status of the dependent person was assessed through the Barthel Index, and sociodemographic and related caring variables were collected through an ad hoc questionnaire. The prevalence of primary insomnia was 41.0%. Caregivers over 55, with more than eight years providing care and more than 12 daily hours of care, had a higher risk of developing insomnia. Multivariate analysis through binary logistic regression analysis showed that the factors more strongly associated with this diagnosis were the years of care duration (Wald=4.02, p=.045, adjusted OR=2.12, 95% CI=1.02-4.42) and the daily hours of care (Wald=4.07, p=.044, adjusted OR=5.01, 95% CI=1.05-23.92). Health care professionals should carefully check sleep complaints in female caregivers.

This study examined the relationship between caregiver burden and sleep quality in dependent people’s family caregivers. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 201 dependent people’s family caregivers and 92 non-caregivers controls. Participants completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI), and an ad-hoc questionnaire to collect sociodemographic data. Based on CBI scores, subjects were categorized into three groups: family caregivers with high levels of perceived burden, family caregivers with low and medium levels of perceived burden and non-caregiver controls. There were significant differences among the groups in the PSQI total (F = 40.39; p < 0.001), subjective sleep quality (F = 25.55; p < 0.001), sleep latency (F = 16.99; p < 0.001), sleep disturbances (F = 14.90; p < 0.001), use of sleep medications (F = 6.94; p < 0.01) and daytime dysfunction (F = 20.12; p < 0.001). These differences were found only between the caregivers with high levels of perceived burden and the other two groups (p < 0.05). There were also significant differences between the groups in sleep duration (F = 18.34; p < 0.001) and habitual sleep efficiency (F = 24.24; p < 0.001). In these dependent measures, the differences were found in all the pairs examined (p < 0.05). These results suggest that caregiver burden is related to sleep quality, so that caregivers with greater perceived burden have a worse sleep quality.

Heartworm disease caused by Dirofilaria immitis is a vector-borne disease that affects many species of both domestic and wild carnivores. We investigated the seroprevalence of D. immitis infections in one of the most endangered felids in the world, the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus), which currently occupy natural restricted and protected areas in southern of Spain. Eight out of 191 animals were seropositive to the analyses of IgG antibodies anti-D. immitis and anti WSPr (Wolbachia surface protein recombinant) (4.2%). These data suggest that both free and captive animals could be at risk of infection, which could be important on his conservation.

Dyssynergic defecation is a usual cause of chronic constipation in elderly women, with a negative impact on health-related quality of life. The present randomized controlled trial aims to evaluate the effects of behavioral treatment through electromyographic biofeedback (EMG-BF) on quality of life and bowel symptoms in elderly women with dyssynergic defecation. Twenty chronically constipated elderly women, due to dyssynergic defecation, were enrolled in the study. Outcome measures included weekly stool frequency, anismus index, severity of patient-reported chronic constipation symptoms (abdominal, rectal, and stool symptoms), and overall measure of quality of life. After 1 month of baseline, participants were randomly assigned to either EMG-BF group (n = 10) or control group (n = 10). Three months after treatment, female patients were once again assessed following the same procedure in baseline. One-way multivariate analysis of variance MANOVA revealed no significant differences between the groups before treatment in any of the measured dependent variables (Wilks’s λ = 0.74; F6,13 = 0.77; p = 0.61). Likewise, univariate analysis showed no differences between the groups, either in terms of age (F1,18 = 0.96; p = 0.34) or mean disease duration (F1,18 = 2.99; p = 0.11). Three months after treatment, MANOVA revealed statistically significant differences between the groups (Wilks’s λ = 0.29; F6,13 = 5.19; p < 0.01). These differences were significant in all outcome measures. EMG-BF produces significant improvements in bowel symptoms and health-related quality of life of elderly women with dyssynergic defecation.

Although the Caregiver Burden Inventory (CBI) is the most widely used multidimensional burden instrument for assessing perceived burden of caregivers, there is no data on its psychometric properties in Spanish, nor on caregivers of dependent persons with various diseases. The objective of this study was to translate the CBI into Spanish and validate it in caregivers of dependent persons with various diseases. Trained evaluators administered the CBI and assessed emotional distress and probable mental disorder in 201 caregivers (87.1% women, mean age 56.2 years). The internal consistency of the CBI was 0.89 (0.74–0.83 among the subscales). There was a significant correlation of emotional distress with both the total burden and each subscale (p < 0.001 in all cases). A total score of 39 and scores of 16, 9, 8, 4, and 2 in burden per time dedicated to care, personal life burden, physical burden, social burden, and emotional burden were suitable cut-off points to discriminate caregivers with probable mental disorder (sensitivity = 63.0%–75.6%, specificity = 63.4%–74.4%). To achieve a greater goodness of fit, the model was re-specified, resulting in a shortened (15-item) instrument. The internal consistency reliability coefficients of the 15-item CBI were satisfactory (Cronbach α = 0.83; 0.77–0.86 among the subscales). Within the 15-item CBI, emotional distress was significantly correlated with the total burden, personal life burden, physical burden, social burden (p < 0.001 in all those cases), and emotional burden (p = 0.001). A total score of 25 and scores of 12, 5, 5, 3, and 1, respectively, in the subscales were identified as cut-off points to discriminate caregivers with probable mental disorder (sensitivity = 46.2%–70.6%, specificity = 43.9%–79.3%). Therefore, the 15-item CBI validly measured caregiver burden with better fit and more parsimoniously than the original CBI.

The relevance of several clinical and psychophysiological variables in the dyssynergic defecation in elderly subjects was investigated in this study. To accomplish this, 30 elderly subjects (10 without anorectal disorders, 10 with chronic constipation and 10 with dyssynergic defecation) were repeatedly assessed once per week for 4 weeks, with the following measures being collected at each session: EMG-activity (µV) of the external anal sphincter (at rest, during squeezing, and during straining to defecate), stool frequency, difficulty defecation level, pain grade during defecation, and satisfaction level after evacuation. A 3 (group) × 4 (sessions) mixed-measures MANOVA revealed a significant main effect for group (Wilks's lambda = 0.006; F = 28.45; p < 0.01), but not for sessions (Wilks's lambda = 0.874; F = 0.94; p > 0.05) or for the group x sessions interaction (Wilks's lambda = 0.811; F = 1.45; p > 0.05). One-way ANOVA and Scheffé's posthoc tests were used to isolate the differences between the groups with respect to the seven different measures. These analysis showed significant differences between the groups on all four clinical variables but only for one psychophysiological variable, EMG-activity during straining to defecate. Significant differences were evidenced between all pairs examined for the difficulty defecation level and pain grade. The complete results of these analysis are presented and the conclusions drawn from them are discussed.

AIM OF THE STUDY:The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of biofeedback therapy in the treatment of dyssynergic defecation in chronically constipated community-dwelling elderly women.MATERIALS AND METHODS:After an initial assessment phase carried out during 1 month, 20 chronically constipated women with dyssynergic defecation were randomly assigned to either electromyographic biofeedback (EMG-BF) group (n=10) or control group (n=10). Outcome measures used to evaluate the efficacy of treatment were weekly stool frequency, sensation of incomplete evacuation, difficulty evacuation level, mean EMG-activity (μV) of the external anal sphincter during straining to defecate and Anismus index.RESULTS:The results obtained in this randomized controlled trial showed significant differences between the groups in all the dependent variables after 1 month of treatment. Moreover, there was no difference between the groups neither in age nor in the duration of chronic constipation symptoms. At the follow-up, 3 months later, clinical gains were maintained.CONCLUSIONS:This study demonstrates that the EMG-BF is an effective behavioral therapy for the treatment of dyssynergic defecation in community-dwelling elderly women.