Cardiovascular health in master athletes engaged in competitive sport Thiago Medeiros Rodriguez, Juliana Hotta Ansai, Jhenifer de Cassia Serantola, Mariana Beretta Rossi, Cintia Sciamana, et al. Fisioterapia Em Movimento, 2025 Introduction Aging is naturally accompanied by a de-cline in overall health. Regular physical activity, whether amateur or competitive, is recognized as a key strategy to promote health and well-being in older adults. However, many individuals begin exercising without prior cardio-vascular assessment. Objective This systematic review aimed to assess the prevalence and types of cardiovas-cular diseases in master athletes. Methods Observational studies published within the last ten years were included if they evaluated cardiovascular outcomes or diseases in master athletes (aged >35 years) participating in any sport. Studies were excluded if they lacked data on pre-defined cardiovascular outcomes, focused solely on re-habilitation or training interventions, failed to identify the sport involved, were not available in full, or were letters to editors, commentaries, or unpublished manuscripts. The literature search strategy used the following key-words: “cardiovascular outcomes,” “cardiac outcomes,” “cardiovascular diseases,” “cardiac outcomes” and “master athletes.” Results: Ten studies were included, most in-volving master endurance athletes aged 35 to 90 years. Seven studies included both sexes, two included only men, and one did not specify sex. Reported outcomes included atrial fibrillation (n = 2), arrhythmia (n = 2), myo-cardial fibrosis (n = 1), ventricular dysfunction (n = 1), and atherosclerotic disease (n = 5). Of the ten studies, eight reported that master athletes have a higher propensity to develop cardiovascular disease, while two found no such association. Conclusion Master athletes may face an increased risk of cardiovascular disease. These find-ings highlight the importance of thorough cardiovascular screening before engaging in competitive sports at older ages.
The Aging Process: A Metabolomics Perspective Alex Castro, Étore F. Signini, Juliana Magalhães De Oliveira, Maria Carolina Bezerra Di Medeiros Leal, Patrícia Rehder-Santos, et al. Molecules, 2022 Aging process is characterized by a progressive decline of several organic, physiological, and metabolic functions whose precise mechanism remains unclear. Metabolomics allows the identification of several metabolites and may contribute to clarifying the aging-regulated metabolic pathways. We aimed to investigate aging-related serum metabolic changes using a metabolomics approach. Fasting blood serum samples from 138 apparently healthy individuals (20–70 years old, 56% men) were analyzed by Proton Nuclear Magnetic Resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR) and Liquid Chromatography-High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry (LC-HRMS), and for clinical markers. Associations of the metabolic profile with age were explored via Correlations (r); Metabolite Set Enrichment Analysis; Multiple Linear Regression; and Aging Metabolism Breakpoint. The age increase was positively correlated (0.212 ≤ r ≤ 0.370, p < 0.05) with the clinical markers (total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, VLDL, triacylglyceride, and glucose levels); negatively correlated (−0.285 ≤ r ≤ −0.214, p < 0.05) with tryptophan, 3-hydroxyisobutyrate, asparagine, isoleucine, leucine, and valine levels, but positively (0.237 ≤ r ≤ 0.269, p < 0.05) with aspartate and ornithine levels. These metabolites resulted in three enriched pathways: valine, leucine, and isoleucine degradation, urea cycle, and ammonia recycling. Additionally, serum metabolic levels of 3-hydroxyisobutyrate, isoleucine, aspartate, and ornithine explained 27.3% of the age variation, with the aging metabolism breakpoint occurring after the third decade of life. These results indicate that the aging process is potentially associated with reduced serum branched-chain amino acid levels (especially after the third decade of life) and progressively increased levels of serum metabolites indicative of the urea cycle.
Integrative perspective of the healthy aging process considering the metabolome, cardiac autonomic modulation and cardiorespiratory fitness evaluated in age groups Étore De Favari Signini, Alex Castro, Patrícia Rehder-Santos, Juliana Cristina Millan-Mattos, Juliana Magalhães de Oliveira, et al. Scientific Reports, 2022 The aging process causes changes at all organic levels. Although metabolism, cardiac autonomic modulation (CAM), and cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) are widely studied as a function of age, they are mainly studied in isolation, thus making it difficult to perceive their concomitant variations. This study aimed to investigate the integrated changes that occur in the metabolome, CAM, and CRF throughout aging in apparently healthy individuals. The subjects (n = 118) were divided into five groups according to age (20–29, 30–39, 40–49, 50–59, and 60–70 years old) and underwent blood collection, autonomic assessment, and a cardiopulmonary exercise test for metabolomics analysis using mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance, cardiac autonomic modulation analysis, and CRF by peak oxygen consumption analysis, respectively. The Tukey’s post hoc and effect size with confidence interval were used for variables with a significant one-way ANOVA effect (P < 0.01). The main changes were in the oldest age group, where the CRF, valine, leucine, isoleucine, 3-hydroxyisobutyrate, and CAM reduced and hippuric acid increased. The results suggest significant changes in the metabolome, CAM, and CRF after the age of sixty as a consequence of aging impairments, but with some changes in the metabolic profile that may be favorable to mitigate the aging deleterious effects.
User and family satisfaction with nursing homes: A systematic review Verena Vassimon-Barroso, Camila Bianca Falasco Pantoni, Marisa Silvana Zazzetta, Daniela Lemes Ferreira, Fernando Augusto Vasilceac, et al. International Journal for Quality in Health Care, 2021 Background Implementation of person-directed care planning is a challenge for nursing home services. User satisfaction is indispensable to implement it. Objective The aim of this study was to address user and family satisfaction with nursing homes and the scales used and to identify the determinants of satisfaction with this service. Methods A systematic review was conducted, and the Cochrane Library, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science and CINAHL databases were searched between December 2019 and April 2020. Studies involving assessment of user or family satisfaction with nursing homes and users ≥65 years old or their families were included in this review. The methodological quality of the included studies was assessed by the Joanna Briggs Institute reviewer’s manual. Results Eight articles were included based on the eligibility criteria, from a total of 2378 records found in the electronic search. All studies presented a cross-sectional design, and the total sample of this review was 57 214 older people. Most of the studies included showed positive overall satisfaction with nursing homes. There was no consensus about the best scale to assess satisfaction because of the huge variety of tools among studies. The most common determinants of satisfaction among studies were quality of life (mental and physical components), anxiety and social and health factors. Conclusion The findings of our review may contribute to a better view of satisfaction with nursing homes experienced by users and families and to an improvement of care in these institutions.
