Cross-cultural studies in Alzheimer's disease.

The search for risk factors for Alzheimer's disease would be greatly enhanced by identification of populations with significantly different prevalence rates, particularly if these populations consisted of ethnic groups now living in different environments and cultures. Evidence is presented that two such groups are worthy of further study: subjects of African origin living in Africa and in the West and Native Americans living on and off reserves.

A study of anxiety/depressive symptoms of medical students, house staff, and their spouses/partners.

Symptoms of anxiety/depression and suicidal ideation were studied in medical students, house staff, and their spouses/partners in a large midwestern school by means of an anonymous questionnaire. A total of 634 medical students and 227 house staff completed the questionnaire. A significantly higher proportion of female trainees than male trainees reported symptoms of anxiety/depression (41% compared with 27%). This difference between men and women was most marked during residency training. The proportion of men reporting anxiety/depressive symptoms declined between medical school (33%) and residency (10%). No such decline occurred with women (medical students 42%, residents 37%).

The CAMDEX: a standardized instrument for the diagnosis of mental disorder in the elderly: a replication with a US sample.

The Cambridge Mental Disorders of the Elderly Examination (CAMDEX) was developed by Roth, et al (1986) to assist in the early diagnosis and measurement of dementia in the elderly. In this study the CAMDEX was administered to a mixed group of independently diagnosed elderly psychiatric patients and control subjects in the United States. The CAMDEX was found to have a high interrater reliability with a mixed group of clinicians of varying backgrounds. The diagnostic scales and the cognitive section of the CAMDEX demonstrated considerable promise in distinguishing between independently diagnosed populations of depressed, demented, and normal subjects. The results suggest comparability between samples of subjects in England and the US, and that the CAMDEX is a promising instrument for use in both research and clinical settings.

IQ deficit in schizophrenia: a test of competing theories.

This study tested competing interpretations of IQ deficit in schizophrenic patients. One interpretation (concomitancy hypothesis) holds that IQ loss is a product of schizophrenic symptoms and is remedied as the symptoms remit. The second (prodromal hypothesis) holds that IQ deficit preceeds and facilitates the development of schizophrenic disorder and is not remedied with symptom remission. The IQs of schizophrenic patients were obtained before and three times after hospital treatment. All mean IQs fell within average limits and did not increase significantly after treatment although test-retest correlations suggested slight disruption of IQ in the morbid state. Remitting cases did not differ significantly from nonremitting cases. Paradoxically, chronic patients earned slightly higher IQs than acute patients. The findings are interpreted as providing some support for both interpretations of schizophrenic IQ deficit. It is concluded that the specific IQ tests used and the nature of the patient samples tested will have a significant bearing on which hypothesis is supported in individual studies of schizophrenic IQ deficit.