Prevalence of iron deficiency in patients admitted to a geriatric unit: A multicenter cross-sectional study

Background : Iron deficiency (ID) is often associated with other comorbidities in older patients and is a factor of morbimortality. However, the prevalence of ID remains poorly documented in this population. Methods : The CARENFER PA study was a French multicenter cross-sectional study whose objective was to evaluate ID in patients (> 75 years) admitted to a geriatric unit. The primary endpoint was the ID prevalence defined as: serum ferritin < 100 µg/L and/or transferrin saturation coefficient (TSAT) < 20%. The Short Physical Performance Battery (SPPB) test was used to identify older patients at high risk of adverse events (e.g., disability, falls, hospitalization, death). Results : A total of 888 patients (mean age, 85.2 years; women, 63.5%) from 16 French centers were included from October 2022 to December 2022. The prevalence of ID was 57.6% (95% CI, 54.3–60.9) in the cohort of older patients (62.6% in anemic and 53.3% in non-anemic patients; p = 0.0062). ID prevalence increased significantly with the presence of more than three comorbidities (65.6% vs. 55.9%; p = 0.0274), CRP ≥ 12 mg/L (73.0% vs. 49.3%; p < 0.001) and treatment that may influence ID/anemia (60.5% vs. 49.6%; p = 0.0042). In multivariate analysis, only CRP ≥ 12 mg/L was an independent predictive factor of ID (odds ratio, 2.78; 95% CI, 1.92–4.08; p < 0.001). SPPB scores were low (0–6) in 60.5% of patients with ID versus 48.6% of patients without ID (p = 0.0076).Conclusion : More than half of older patients had ID, including non-anemic patients. ID was associated with the presence of inflammation and a low SPPB score

Familial breast cancer and DNA repair genes: Insights into known and novel susceptibility genes from the GENESIS study, and implications for multigene panel testing

This article is dedicated to the memory of Olga M. Sinilnikova who died prematurely on June 30, 2014. Olga participated decisively in structuring research around hereditary predisposition to BC and in leading the GENESIS study with Nadine Andrieu and Dominique Stoppa-Lyonnet. She also contributed to the design of the GENESIS-NGS project.International audiencePathogenic variants in BRCA1 and BRCA2 only explain the underlying genetic cause of about 10% of hereditary breast and ovarian cancer families. Because of cost-effectiveness, multigene panel testing is often performed even if the clinical utility of testing most of the genes remains questionable. The purpose of our study was to assess the contribution of rare, deleterious-predicted variants in DNA repair genes in familial breast cancer (BC) in a well-characterized and homogeneous population. We analyzed 113 DNA repair genes selected from either an exome sequencing or a candidate gene approach in the GENESIS study, which includes familial BC cases with no BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation and having a sister with BC (N = 1,207), and general population controls (N = 1,199). Sequencing data were filtered for rare loss-of-function variants (LoF) and likely deleterious missense variants (MV). We confirmed associations between LoF and MV in PALB2, ATM and CHEK2 and BC occurrence. We also identified for the first time associations between FANCI, MAST1, POLH and RTEL1 and BC susceptibility. Unlike other associated genes, carriers of an ATM LoF had a significantly higher risk of developing BC than carriers of an ATM MV (ORLoF = 17.4 vs. ORMV = 1.6; p Het = 0.002). Hence, our approach allowed us to specify BC relative risks associated with deleterious-predicted variants in PALB2, ATM and CHEK2 and to add MAST1, POLH, RTEL1 and FANCI to the list of DNA repair genes possibly involved in BC susceptibility. We also highlight that different types of variants within the same gene can lead to different risk estimates

Patients treated with vitamin K oral anticoagulants in family practice: a new approach to bleeding risk assessment. An ancillary study by the CACAO prospective general practice cohort

International audienceAbstract Background The ability of bleeding risk scores to predict major bleeding (MB) or clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding (CRNMB) remains a topic of contention, particularly in nonselected patients in family practice. In addition, the capacity to predict bleeding risk using simple variables has yet to be established. Objectives The main objective was to confirm that severe anemia was the most predictive factor for the estimation of bleeding risk in patients treated with vitamin K antagonists (VKAs). Secondary objectives were to test the capacity of different bleeding scores to detect high-risk patients. Subsequently, the impact of functional decline on bleeding incidence was explored. Methods The CACAO study was a multicenter prospective cohort study of patients who, due to nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) and/or venous thromboembolism (VTE), had been prescribed an oral anticoagulant by their general practitioner (GP) as a prophylactic measure. Patient characteristics were collected at the time of inclusion by GPs, who then monitored them in accordance with standard practice for one year. MB and CRNMB were the main outcomes for one year. By applying this approach, a total of 13 scores were analyzed. Results Aaemia was found to be strongly associated with MB (HR: 2.77, 95% CI: 1.2–6.36), with a particularly pronounced association observed in cases of severe anemia (HR: 12.9, 95% CI: 2.76–60.35). Twelve out of 27 MB cases were not identified by at least half of the scores. By contrast, functional decline was identified as a novel factor associated with MB (HR: 2.45, 95% CI: 1.13–5.31). Conclusions Preexisting anemia is a major prognostic factor associated with the occurrence of bleeding. It seems relevant to suggest that functional decline should be considered by GPs when assessing bleeding risk

Oral anticoagulant safety in family practice: prognostic accuracy of Bleeding Risk Scores (from the CACAO study)

International audienceAbstract Background To assess bleeding risk of patients treated by oral anticoagulants, several scores have been constructed to assist physicians in the evaluation of the benefit risk. Most of these scores lack a strong enough level of evidence for use in family practice. Objective To assess the predictive prognostic accuracy of 13 scores designed to assess the risk of major or clinically relevant non-major (CRNM) bleeding events in a French ambulatory cohort receiving Vitamin-K antagonists (VKA) or direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in a family practice setting. Methods CACAO (Comparison of Accidents and their Circumstances with Oral Anticoagulants) was a multicentre prospective cohort of ambulatory patients prescribed oral anticoagulants. We selected patients from the cohort who had received an oral anticoagulant because of non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) and/or venous thromboembolism (VTE) to be followed during one year by their GP. The following scores were calculated: mOBRI, Shireman, Kuijer, HEMORR2HAGES, ATRIA, HAS-BLED, RIETE, VTE-BLEED, ACCP score, Rutherford, ABH-Score, GARFIEL-AF, and Outcomes Registry for Better InformedTreatment of Atrial Fibrillation (ORBIT). Prognostic accuracy was assessed by using receiver operating characteristic curves and c-statistics. Results During 1 year, 3,082 patients were followed. All of the scores demonstrated only poor to moderate ability to predict major bleeding or CRNM in NVAF patients on DOACs (c-statistic: 0.41–0.66 and 0.45–0.58), respectively. The results were only slightly better for patients prescribed VKA (0.47–0.66 and 0.5–0.55, respectively) in this indication. The results were also unsatisfactory in patients treated for VTE. Conclusion None of the scores demonstrated satisfactory discriminatory ability when used in family practice. Clinical Trial Registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT0237677