Background:To determine the association between the use of opioids and benzodiazepines and the risk of falls with hip fracture in populations older than 65 years in Colombia.Methods:A case-control study with patients older than 65 years with diagnosis of hip fracture. Two controls were obtained per case. The drugs dispensed in the previous 30 days were identified. Sociodemographic, diagnostic, pharmacological (opioids and benzodiazepines), and polypharmacy variables were analyzed. A logistic regression model was used to analyze the risk of fall with hip fracture while using these drugs.Results:We included 287 patients with hip fractures and 574 controls. There was a female predominance (72.1%) and a mean age of 82.4 ± 8.0 years. Of the patients, 12.7% had been prescribed with opioids and 4.2% with benzodiazepines in the previous month. The adjusted multivariate analysis found that using opioids (OR:4.49; 95%CI:2.72–7.42) and benzodiazepines (OR:3.73; 95%CI:1.60–8.70) in the month prior to the event was significantly associated with a greater probability of suffering a fall with hip fracture.Conclusions:People who are taking opioids and benzodiazepines have increased risk for hip fracture in Colombia. Strategies to educate physicians regarding the pharmacology of older adults should be strengthened.

Background/Objective: To determine the association between the use of anticholinergic drugs and the risk of falls with hip fracture in a population older than 60 years. Methods: A case–control study in patients older than 60 years with a diagnosis of hip fracture. All drugs dispensed during the previous 30 days were identified. Sociodemographic, clinical, pharmacological (drugs according to the Anticholinergic Risk Scale [ARS]), and polypharmacy variables were analyzed. Measurements: Falls with hip fracture and type of drug according to the ARS. Results: A total of 300 patients with hip fracture and 600 controls were included. The mean age was 81.6 ± 8.9 years, with female predominance (71.3%). The use of drugs with moderate (odds ratio [OR]: 1.97, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.19-3.27) or high ARS scores (OR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.13-2.96) increased the probability of fracture. Conclusions: There was an association between the use of drugs with anticholinergic properties and the probability of hip fracture in elderly patients and it was possible to establish the level of risk.

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected millions of people worldwide, and several sociodemographic variables, comorbidities and care variables have been associated with complications and mortality. Objective: To identify the factors associated with admission to intensive care units (ICUs) and mortality in patients with COVID-19 from 4 clinics in Colombia. Methods: This was a follow-up study of a cohort of patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between March and August 2020. Sociodemographic, clinical (Charlson comorbidity index and NEWS 2 score) and pharmacological variables were identified. Multivariate analyses were performed to identify variables associated with the risk of admission to the ICU and death (p<0.05). Results: A total of 780 patients were analyzed, with a median age of 57.0 years; 61.2% were male. On admission, 54.9% were classified as severely ill, 65.3% were diagnosed with acute respiratory distress syndrome, 32.4% were admitted to the ICU, and 26.0% died. The factors associated with a greater likelihood of ICU admission were severe pneumonia (OR: 9.86; 95%CI:5.99–16.23), each 1-point increase in the NEWS 2 score (OR:1.09; 95%CI:1.002–1.19), history of ischemic heart disease (OR:3.24; 95%CI:1.16–9.00), and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR:2.07; 95%CI:1.09–3.90). The risk of dying increased in those older than 65 years (OR:3.08; 95%CI:1.66–5.71), in patients with acute renal failure (OR:6.96; 95%CI:4.41–11.78), admitted to the ICU (OR:6.31; 95%CI:3.63–10.95), and for each 1-point increase in the Charlson comorbidity index (OR:1.16; 95%CI:1.002–1.35). Conclusions: Factors related to increasing the probability of requiring ICU care or dying in patients with COVID-19 were identified, facilitating the development of anticipatory intervention measures that favor comprehensive care and improve patient prognosis.

Aim: Quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic altered the supply and demand of health services. This, together with the ‘infodemic’ and generalized panic, could alter the patterns of self-medication in the population. The objective was to characterize the patterns of self-medication in four cities of Colombia during mandatory preventive isolation in 2020. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study done in four Colombian cities during mandatory national preventive isolation between June and September 2020. A sample of 397 adults who responded to an online survey, based on the Instrument for Systematic Data Collection for Self-medication ( Instrumento de Recolección Sistemática de Datos para la Automedicación–IRIS-AM), was obtained. The use of social networks (including WhatsApp) as the source of information about medications was explored. Results: The 397 people surveyed had a median age of 31.0 years, and 58.2% were women. The prevalence of self-medication during lockdown was 34.3% ( n = 136). Medications targeting the nervous system ( n = 117; 86.0% of those participants with self-medication) and the musculoskeletal system ( n = 68; 50.0%) were the most commonly used. Ten (7.4%) of the self-medicated patients reported doing so to prevent COVID-19, and 15 (11.0%) named social networks as the source of information. Conclusion: More than one-third of the participants reported self-medication during COVID-19 lockdown, mainly with analgesic-type nervous system medications. People who reported self-medication to prevent COVID-19 often got their information from social networks, the Internet, and WhatsApp. Plain Language Summary: Self-medication during mandatory COVID-19 isolation Introduction: Self-medication refers to the use of medications to treat self-diagnosed disorders or symptoms, and it can lead to health problems. This habit is widely practiced by the people, especially in low- and middle-income countries. The objective was to characterize the patterns of self-medication in four cities of Colombia during mandatory preventive isolation in 2020 due the quarantine by COVID-19 explored pandemic. Methods: We made a cross-sectional study between June and September 2020, and a sample of 397 adults who responded to an online survey. The use of social networks (including WhatsApp) as the source of information about medications was explored. Results: The prevalence of self-medication during lockdown was 34.3% ( n = 136). Medications targeting the nervous system ( n = 117; 86.0% of those participants with self-medication) and the musculoskeletal system (strategies n = 68; 50.0%) were the most commonly used. Conclusion: People who reported self-medication to prevent COVID-19 often got their information from social networks, the Internet, and WhatsApp. These findings raise the possibility of designing pedagogical strategies on this topic.

Viruses are the most abundant components of the human gut microbiome with a significant impact on health and disease. The effects of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection on gut virome has been scarcely analysed. Several studies suggested that integrase strand transfers inhibitors (INSTIs) are associated with a healthier gut. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of HIV infection and INSTIs on gut virome composition. 26 non-HIV-infected volunteers, 15 naive HIV-infected patients and 15 INSTIs-treated HIV-infected patients were recruited and their gut virome composition was analysed using shotgun sequencing. Bacteriophages were the most abundant and diverse viruses present in gut. HIV infection was accompanied by a decrease in phage richness which was reverted after INSTIs-based treatment. β-diversity of phages revealed that samples from HIV-infected patients clustered separately from those belonging to the control group. Differential abundant analysis showed an increase in phages belonging to Caudoviricetes class in the naive group and a decrease of Malgrandaviricetes class phages in the INSTIs-treated group compared to the control group. Besides, it was observed that INSTIs-based treatment was not able to reverse the increase of lysogenic phages associated with HIV infection or to modify the decrease observed on the relative abundance of Proteobacteria-infecting phages. Our study describes for the first time the impact of HIV and INSTIs on gut virome and demonstrates that INSTIs-based treatments are able to partially restore gut dysbiosis at the viral level, which opens several opportunities for new studies focused on microbiota-based therapies.