Browsing by Author "Villagra, Roque"
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Item Aging and health policies in chile: New Agendas for research(2017) Thumala, Daniela; Kennedy, Brian K; Calvo, Esteban; Gonzalez-Billault, Chriastian; Zitko, Pedro; Lillo, Patricia; Villagra, Roque; Ibáñez, Agustín; Assar, Rodrigo; Andrade, Maricarmen; Slachevsky, AndreaPopulation aging is among the most important global transformations. Compared to European and North American countries, Chile is among the countries with the fastest growth of life expectancy at birth during recent decades. The aging of Chile's population is related to the improvement of living conditions, but also entails risks that tend to be associated with a rapid economic growth accompanied by large income inequalities and a chronic deficit of basic social benefits. The rapid demographic transition towards an aged population has unfolded in a context of poor development of public policies to tackle the opportunities and needs associated with an aging society. This article provides a brief overview of current Chilean public policy on aging, with a focus on healthy aging as defined by World Health Organization. The discussion addresses core challenges to successfully achieve healthy aging in Chile.Publication Automated text-level semantic markers of Alzheimer’s disease(2022) Sanz, Camila; Carrillo, Facundo; Slachevsky, Andrea; Forno, Gonzalo; Gorno, Maria; Villagra, Roque; Ibáñez, Agustín; Tagliazucch, Enzo; García, AdolfoIntroduction Automated speech analysis has emerged as a scalable, cost‐effective tool to identify persons with Alzheimer's disease dementia (ADD). Yet, most research is undermined by low interpretability and specificity. Methods Combining statistical and machine learning analyses of natural speech data, we aimed to discriminate ADD patients from healthy controls (HCs) based on automated measures of domains typically affected in ADD: semantic granularity (coarseness of concepts) and ongoing semantic variability (conceptual closeness of successive words). To test for specificity, we replicated the analyses on Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Results Relative to controls, ADD (but not PD) patients exhibited significant differences in both measures. Also, these features robustly discriminated between ADD patients and HC, while yielding near‐chance classification between PD patients and HCs. Discussion Automated discourse‐level semantic analyses can reveal objective, interpretable, and specific markers of ADD, bridging well‐established neuropsychological targets with digital assessment tools.Item Epidemiology of chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy in the South-Eastern area of Santiago, Chile(2020) Cea, Gabriel; Idiáquez, Juan Francisco; Salinas, Rodrigo; Matamala, José Manuel; Villagra, Roque; Stuardo, AndrésChronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP) is an immune-mediated polyneuropathy. It usually has an insidious onset, progressive course and heterogeneous clinical features. As far as we know, there is no epidemiological information on CIDP in South America and the Caribbean. Our aim was to estimate the frequency of CIDP in the South-Eastern region of Santiago, where our hospital is based and the population number assigned is officially reported every year by the health authorities. Records of 581 patients registered with the diagnosis of neuropathy were found and all patients meeting the diagnostic criteria of the EFNS/PNS for definitive and possible CIDP were included. Data were collected using a data extraction protocol designed by the authors and which included demographic, clinical, laboratory and electrophysiological information. The estimated prevalence and incidence of CIDP were 2.95/100,000 and 0.46/100,000 respectively. Fifteen patients (8 men, 7 women) were classified as definitive or possible CIDP. Nine patients had typical CIDP and three also had diabetes mellitus. The prevalence and incidence rates were similar to those reported in other regions of the worldItem GERO Cohort Protocol, Chile, 2017-2022: Community-based Cohort of Functional Decline in Subjective Cognitive Complaint elderly(2020) Slachevsky, Andrea; Zitko, Pedro; Martínez-Pernía, David; Forno, Gonzalo; Court, Felipe A; Lillo, Patricia; Villagra, Roque; Duran-Aniotz, Claudia; Parrao, Teresa; Assar, Rodrigo; Orellana, Paulina; Toledo, Carolina; Rivera, Rodrigo; Ibañez, Agustín; Parra, Mario A; Christian González-Billault, Christian; Amieva, Helena; Thumala, DanielaBackground: With the global population aging and life expectancy increasing, dementia has turned a priority in the health care system. In Chile, dementia is one of the most important causes of disability in the elderly and the most rapidly growing cause of death in the last 20 years. Cognitive complaint is considered a predictor for cognitive and functional decline, incident mild cognitive impairment, and incident dementia. The GERO cohort is the Chilean core clinical project of the Geroscience Center for Brain Health and Metabolism (GERO). The objective of the GERO cohort is to analyze the rate of functional decline and progression to clinical dementia and their associated risk factors in a community-dwelling elderly with subjective cognitive complaint, through a population-based study. We also aim to undertake clinical research on brain ageing and dementia disorders, to create data and biobanks with the appropriate infrastructure to conduct other studies and facilitate to the national and international scientific community access to the data and samples for research. Methods: The GERO cohort aims the recruitment of 300 elderly subjects (> 70 years) from Santiago (Chile), following them up for at least 3 years. Eligible people are adults not diagnosed with dementia with subjective cognitive complaint, which are reported either by the participant, a proxy or both. Participants are identified through a household census. The protocol for evaluation is based on a multidimensional approach including socio-demographic, biomedical, psychosocial, neuropsychological, neuropsychiatric and motor assessments. Neuroimaging, blood and stool samples are also obtained. This multidimensional evaluation is carried out in a baseline and 2 follow-ups assessments, at 18 and 36 months. In addition, in months 6, 12, 24, and 30, a telephone interview is performed in order to keep contact with the participants and to assess general well-being. Discussion: Our work will allow us to determine multidimensional risks factors associated with functional decline and conversion to dementia in elderly with subjective cognitive complain. The aim of our GERO group is to establish the capacity to foster cutting edge and multidisciplinary research on aging in Chile including basic and clinical research.