Background: Heart failure is a global major healthcare problem with millions of hospitalizations annually and with a very high mortality. There is an increased interest in finding new and reliable biomarkers for the diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic guidance of patients hospitalized for acute heart failure; Our review aims to summarize in an easy-to-follow flow recent relevant research evaluating the possible use and the clinical value of measuring CA 125 serum levels in acute HF. Methods: A thorough search in the main international databases identified a relevant pool of 170 articles, providing recently published data for this narrative review that used PRISMA guidelines. Results: There are data to sustain the role of carbohydrate antigen 125 (CA 125), a worldwide used marker of ovarian cancer, in patients with heart failure. Several studies have shown links between CA 125 levels and congestion seen in acute heart failure, high mortality and readmission rates at 6 months follow-up after discharge from acute heart failure and also a role of CA 125 in the guidance of heart failure therapy. There are also clinical trials that showed that several particularities of CA 125 make it even better than N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP)—a classical and more utilized marker of heart failure) in several scenarios of acute heart failure. Conclusions: Although the mechanism behind the upregulation of serum CA 125 in patients with congestive HF has not been confirmed nor fully understood.

Heart failure is one of the main morbidity and mortality factors in the general population and especially in elderly patients. Thus, at the European level, the prevalence of heart failure is 1% in people under 55 years of age but increases to over 10% in people over 70 years of age. The particularities of the elderly patient, which make the management of heart failure difficult, are the presence of comorbidities, frailty, cognitive impairment and polypharmacy. However, elderly patients are under-represented in clinical trials on the diagnosis and treatment of heart failure. The need for complementary methods (biomarkers) for differential and early diagnosis of heart failure is becoming more and more evident, even in its subclinical stages. These methods need to have increased specificity and sensitivity and be widely available. Natriuretic peptides, in particular B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) and its fraction NTproBNP, have gained an increasingly important role in the screening, diagnosis and treatment of heart failure in recent years.

Heart failure is a global major healthcare problem with millions of hospitalizations annually and with a very high mortality. There is an increased interest in finding new and reliable biomarkers for the diagnostication, prognostication and therapeutical guidance of patients hospitalized for acute heart failure. There is data to sustain the role of CA 125, a worldwide used marker of ovarian cancer, in patients with heart failure. Several studies have shown links between CA 125 levels and congestion seen in acute heart failure, high mortality and readmission rates at 6 months follow up after discharge from acute heart failure and also a role of CA 125 in the guidance of heart failure therapy. There are also clinical trials that showed that several particularities of CA 125 make it even better than NTpro BNP ( a classical and more utilised marker of heart failure) in several scenarios of acute heart failure.

(1) Background: As dementia is an incurable, multifactorial neurodegenerative disease, we gathered and analyzed a number of patient characteristics, assessing possible correlations that may support early diagnosis and a more accurate prognosis for cognitively impaired patients. (2) Methods: We used standard clinical parameters (cognitive and functional status, comorbidities, and plasma vitamin D levels) in a study group of 162 patients aged above 55 years old. (3) Results: We reported a higher incidence of cardiovascular and metabolic comorbidities in patients with severe or moderate cognitive impairment; a validated correlation between functional status, cognitive status, and serum vitamin D levels; and a more frequently associated profile of neurologic comorbidities in patients with a more significant cognitive deficiency. (4) Conclusions: The present research adds data on the significant correlations of cognitive deficits with cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurologic diseases (and the lack of correlation with osteoarticular illness). Clinicians should make the best use of the current screening and assessment tools (such as the functional scoring of daily activities, cognitive evaluation, and the screening of risk factors). Our data may offer starting points for future in-depth analysis of dementia-modifiable risk factors.

Background and Objectives: Biological correlates of baseline clinical responsiveness remain incompletely characterized in older adults with acute ischemic stroke treated with intravenous thrombolysis. We evaluated associations between admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and pre-thrombolysis hematologic, inflammatory, iron-status, and micronutrient parameters. Materials and Methods: This retrospective single-center cohort included 95 unique patients aged ≥65 years, all treated with intravenous alteplase between 2020 and 2024. Admission GCS ranged from 11 to 14. Spearman correlations used original GCS scores. Principal proportional odds models used ordered GCS categories of 11–12, 13, and 14, and were adjusted for age, sex, and admission National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), with false discovery rate corrections. Sensitivity analyses additionally considered clinician-documented aphasia, congestive heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and reperfusion status for 24 h GCS change. Results: Admission GCS correlated most strongly with RDW-CV (rho = −0.843; 95% bootstrap CI, −0.892 to −0.774) and MCV (rho = 0.779; 95% CI, 0.668 to 0.866). Principal adjusted odds ratios per one-SD increase were 5.68 for hemoglobin, 3.01 for log-transformed ferritin, 4.71 for serum iron, 4.71 for log-transformed vitamin B12, 0.20 for C-reactive protein, and 0.019 for RDW-CV (all FDR-adjusted p < 0.001). Association directions remained consistent in sensitivity analyses. MCV showed an exploratory nonlinear association. No biomarker was associated with the direction of 24 h GCS change after FDR correction, including reperfusion-adjusted models. Conclusions: Pre-thrombolysis biological parameters were concurrently associated with baseline GCS within this single-center cohort and restricted GCS range. These associations do not establish causality, independence from unmeasured lesion location or infarct volume, predictive utility, or early neurological recovery. Prospective external validation is required.

Background and Objectives: Biological correlates of admission consciousness remain incompletely characterized in older adults with acute ischemic stroke treated with intravenous thrombolysis. We evaluated associations between admission Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) and pre-thrombolysis hematologic, inflammatory, iron-status, and micronutrient parameters, while considering the oral-systemic relevance of the resulting biological pattern. Materials and Methods: This retrospective single-center cohort included 95 unique patients aged ≥65 years treated between 2020 and 2024. Spearman correlations used the original GCS scores (11–14). Proportional-odds models used ordered categories (11–12, 13, and 14), adjusted for age and sex, with additional National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) adjustment; false discovery rate (FDR) correction was applied. Results: Admission GCS correlated most strongly with RDW-CV (rho = −0.843; 95% bootstrap CI, −0.892 to −0.774) and MCV (rho = 0.779; 95% CI, 0.668 to 0.866). In age- and sex-adjusted models, odds ratios per 1-SD increase were 5.15 for hemoglobin, 3.17 for log-transformed ferritin, 4.49 for serum iron, 4.90 for log-transformed vitamin B12, 0.18 for C-reactive protein, and 0.018 for RDW-CV (all FDR-adjusted p < 0.001). Directions remained consistent after NIHSS adjustment. MCV showed a nonlinear association, with a model-derived turning point at 86.6 fL. Biomarkers were associated with absolute GCS at 24 hours but not with the direction of 24-hour change after FDR correction. Conclusions: The pre-thrombolysis biological profile was associated with the restricted range of admission GCS observed in this cohort. The convergence of hematologic, micronutrient, and inflammatory associations provides an exploratory oral-systemic research perspective but does not establish oral disease or an oral source for the systemic findings.