Prediction of cognitive response to surgery in elderly patients with primary hyperparathyroidism

Context-dependent reduction in corticomuscular coupling for balance control in chronic stroke survivors

Balance control is an important indicator of mobility and independence in activities of daily living. How the functional coupling between the cortex and the muscle for balance control is affected following stroke remains to be known. We investigated the changes in coupling between the cortex and leg muscles during a challenging balance task over multiple frequency bands in chronic stroke survivors. Fourteen participants with stroke and ten healthy controls performed a challenging balance task. They stood on a computerized support surface that was either fixed (low difficulty condition) or sway-referenced with varying gain (medium and high difficulty conditions). We computed corticomuscular coherence between electrodes placed over the sensorimotor area (electroencephalography) and leg muscles (electromyography) and assessed balance performance using clinical and laboratory-based tests. We found significantly lower delta frequency band coherence in stroke participants when compared with healthy controls under medium difficulty condition, but not during low and high difficulty conditions. These differences were found for most of the distal but not for proximal leg muscle groups. No differences were found at other frequency bands. Participants with stroke showed poor balance clinical scores when compared with healthy controls, but no differences were found for laboratory-based tests. The observation of effects at distal but not at proximal muscle groups suggests differences in the (re)organization of the descending connections across two muscle groups for balance control. We argue that the observed group difference in delta band coherence indicates balance context-dependent alteration in mechanisms for the detection of somatosensory modulation resulting from sway-referencing of the support surface for balance maintenance following stroke.

Effects of primary hyperparathyroidism on oral health. A longitudinal register-based study

OBJECTIVES

To analyze the effects of primary hyperparathyroidism on oral health and to investigate if the effects are linked to severity of the disease.

SUBJECTS AND METHODS

This prospective cohort study involved 6151 primary hyperparathyroidism patients registered in the Scandinavian Quality Registry of Thyroid, Parathyroid, and Adrenal surgery and the National Cancer Register after parathyroidectomy (exposure) during 2011-2017 (patient cohort) and 60,654 individuals without primary hyperparathyroidism (reference cohort), matched by age, gender, and county of resident at the date of parathyroidectomy. The outcomes were tooth extractions and periodontal interventions. The risk for the outcomes was assessed by Poisson regression models.

RESULTS

After adjusting for covariates, the patient cohort had a higher incidence rate of tooth extraction during the two-year period after parathyroidectomy (IRR = 1.15; 95% CI = 1.01-1.31), but a lower incidence rate of periodontal interventions during the four- to six-year period after parathyroidectomy (IRR = 0.88; 95% CI = 0.79-0.99). Furthermore, patients with more severe primary hyperparathyroidism were more likely to have tooth extractions and periodontal interventions after parathyroidectomy.

CONCLUSIONS

The risk of tooth extraction increased slightly during the first two years after parathyroidectomy. Thereafter, the oral health effects subsided. Pre-surgical serum ionized calcium levels and adenoma weight may indicate negative dental outcomes after parathyroidectomy.

Primary Hyperparathyroidism in Older Adults: A Narrative Review of the Most Recent Literature on Epidemiology, Diagnosis and Management

BACKGROUND

Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) is a common endocrine disorder among older adults. The aim of this review is to shed light on PHPT, particularly in this age group, in terms of prevalence, clinical manifestations, medical and surgical management, and post-operative complications.

METHODS

Eligible studies were those considering PHPT exclusively in the older population (main databases: PubMed, Medline, Google Scholar and the University Online database). Articles published in the last 10 years (2013-2023) were considered. Eligibility criteria followed the SPIDER (sample, phenomenon of interest, design, evaluation, research type) tool. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute critical appraisal tool. A total of 29 studies (mainly observational) matched the inclusion criteria.

RESULTS

The prevalence of PHPT is approximately 1 per 100 in the elderly, and it is more common in females. The clinical presentation varies by age and can include osteoporosis, fractures, and neuropsychiatric symptoms. Conservative management can be an option whenever surgery is not indicated or feasible. However, parathyroidectomy (PTX) remains a safe and effective modality in aging populations with improvement to symptoms, bone mineral density, fracture risk, frailty, quality of life, and metabolic derangements. Complication rates are similar in elderly people compared to younger ones, except for mildly longer length of hospital stay and reoperation for those with higher frailty.

CONCLUSION

PHPT is a common yet overlooked and underdiagnosed condition among the older population. The safety and efficacy of PTX in the older population on different levels is now well demonstrated in the literature.

Quality of Life in Primary Hyperparathyroidism

Quality of life is impaired in primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT), regardless of the severity of the disease. Clinical studies have employed different instruments, including standardized and disease-specific questionnaires, and including patients with different phenotypes of PHPT. Neuropsychiatric symptoms and decline in cognitive status are common in PHPT. Patients may complain of these issues or they can be ascertained by questionnaires; they include depression, anxiety, impaired vitality, social and emotional functions, sleep disturbances, and altered mental function. Randomized controlled trials on the effects of surgical versus non-surgical treatments have collectively shown improvement in quality of life after parathyroidectomy, but results have been heterogeneous.

Phosphate in the Context of Cognitive Impairment and Other Neurological Disorders Occurrence in Chronic Kidney Disease

The nervous system and the kidneys are linked under physiological states to maintain normal body homeostasis. In chronic kidney disease (CKD), damaged kidneys can impair the central nervous system, including cerebrovascular disease and cognitive impairment (CI). Recently, kidney disease has been proposed as a new modifiable risk factor for dementia. It is reported that uremic toxins may have direct neurotoxic (astrocyte activation and neuronal death) and/or indirect action through vascular effects (cerebral endothelial dysfunction, calcification, and inflammation). This review summarizes the evidence from research investigating the pathophysiological effects of phosphate toxicity in the nervous system, raising the question of whether the control of hyperphosphatemia in CKD would lower patients’ risk of developing cognitive impairment and dementia.