Substance abuse and associated psychosocial problems among Argentina adolescents: sex heterogeneity and familial transmission.

OBJECTIVE: The goal of this investigation was to clarify the effects of sex and familial transmission in the psychosocial concomitants of substance abuse problems among adolescents. METHOD: Male (n = 956) and female (n = 303) adolescents in school, and male adolescents in a drug treatment program (n = 51) in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina were administered a translated version of the Drug Use Screening Inventory. Use of substances, familial substance abuse and associations between psychosocial problem domains and substance abuse problems were examined. RESULTS: Sex heterogeneity was broadly observed in terms of both substance abuse and psychosocial problems. Female adolescents in the school-based sample were found to generally report higher levels of psychosocial problems and greater use of minor tranquillizers than school boys or boys in treatment for substance abuse. Conduct deviancy was associated with substance abuse problems only in males, while health problems were associated only in females. However, among all youth, substance abuse problems were found to be associated with older age, greater social competency, problems in school performance, and involvement with deviant peers. Familial substance abuse was associated with substance abuse problems among all adolescents, however, the pattern of associations with other psychosocial problems differed between males and females. CONCLUSIONS: Sex heterogeneity was found in the associations between psychosocial problems, adolescent substance abuse, and familial substance abuse. Furthermore, the results are consistent with a syndrome of problem behaviors.

Adult outpatients with depression: worse quality of life than in other chronic medical diseases in Argentina.

Current research into the impact of major depressive illness on society goes beyond estimating its prevalence, complications or comorbidity patterns, to include research that seeks to establish how this disorder affects individuals' daily functioning and well-being. However, it is unclear whether depression affects such broadly defined quality of life (QOL) outcomes to a similar or an even greater extent than chronic physical illness. The present study assessed QOL in a sample of 48 ambulatory depressed patients who sought psychiatric assistance at a centre in La Plata, Argentina, during a 15-month period. All of them met DSM-IV criteria for current major depression, as diagnosed by clinicians. For the purposes of comparison, we also evaluated the QOL of additional samples of persons who were healthy or who had chronic physical illness. QOL was assessed with the WHOQOL-100, a generic and transcultural instrument developed simultaneously in 15 centres, by the World Health Organization (WHO). Results indicated that QOL was significantly poorer in depressed persons than in either healthy persons or individuals with other frequent chronic pathologies in Argentina. The impact of depression was also found to be related to the seriousness of the episode. We suggest that it is important to include QOL assessments of patients with depressive disorders when evaluating the course and progress of their treatment. Such assessments can be used in health care decision making and resource allocation.

Analysis of the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Beck Depression Inventory in Argentina.

Increased international collaboration in clinical trials has created a need for cross-culturally valid instruments to assess quality of life and behavioral disorders. Cross-cultural studies of depressive symptomatology, in particular, must be preceded by an exhaustive study of the psychometric properties of the instruments, to ensure the validity of the comparison. In this article, we examine the validity, reliability and factor structure of the Spanish version of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in a random stratified sample of 608 community residents in Argentina. Our findings indicate that this version of the BDI is psychometrically strong and appropriate for use in Argentina, and we suggest that it is suitable for assessing depressive symptomatology in Spanish speakers.

Validity and reliability of Symptom Checklist '90 (SCL90) in an Argentine population sample.

Quantitative models to explore behavioural disorders are being used increasingly often for health care decision making. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of instruments in Argentina specifically designed for our population, and few researchers have focused on adapting and re-establishing psychometric criteria for instruments proven to be useful in other countries. The aims of this study were to assess the psychometric properties and to develop normative samples for a psychological status symptom inventory, the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL90). We sought to determine the psychological symptom patterns both in physically healthy community-residing respondents and in physically ill patients in Argentina. The nonpatient sample was a random stratified one, made up of 484 individuals from the general population and representative with regard to gender, age, income and educational level. We also analysed a patient sample that included 105 persons with breast cancer. Results indicated acceptable reliability and validity levels as well as adequate sensitivity to detect differences between patients and nonpatients. We concluded that the SCL90 can be used to measure psychological status in Argentina, and the data presented in this paper can be utilized for comparisons with other similar instruments and with other populations.

A prospective, randomized Phase III trial comparing combination chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and 5-fluorouracil with vinorelbine plus doxorubicin in the treatment of advanced breast carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: A prospective, multicenter, randomized, Phase III trial comparing the efficacy of combination chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide (FAC) with a combination of vinorelbine and doxorubicin (NA) in the treatment of patients with advanced breast carcinoma was undertaken. METHODS: One hundred and seventy-seven patients who previously were untreated for recurrent or metastatic breast carcinoma were entered into the study; 7 patients could not be assessed. The final analysis relates to 85 patients who were treated with FAC and 85 patients who were treated with NA, of whom 21 (25%) and 44 (52%), respectively, had received prior adjuvant chemotherapy. RESULTS: The overall response rates were similar for the two treatments and were unaffected by prior exposure to adjuvant therapy; overall response rate (ORR) for FAC was 74% (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 65-83%), and the ORR for NA was 75% (95% CI, 66-84%). The activity of NA in patients with liver involvement was greater than that of FAC in terms of survival. Overall survivals were similar, with a median of 17.3 months for patients receiving FAC and 17.8 months for patients receiving NA. Severe toxicity was uncommon with World Health Organization Grade 3-4 neutropenia affecting only 7% of patients in each arm of the study. NA was associated with a higher incidence of mild to moderate constipation, neurotoxicity, and phlebitis, whereas FAC produced a slight excess of mild cardiotoxicity. CONCLUSIONS: The efficacy of these two regimens is very similar, although NA may be more active in a subset of patients with visceral metastatic disease, particularly liver involvement. It is clear that, in a direct comparison with an established three-drug regimen, the newer two-drug combination of NA demonstrated equivalent activity with no significant excess of Grade 3-4 toxicity.

Calidad de vida: un análisis multivariable de pacientes operados de carcinoma mamario comunicación preliminar / Quality of life: multivariable analysis in operated patients of mammary carcinoma: preliminary communication

Se analizaron 47 pacientes operados por carcinoma mamarioo que concurrían a control a la Unidad de Patología Mamaria del HZGA San Roque de Gonnet. Se evaluó la calidad de vida, por medio de instrumentos estandarizados: MMS, SCL-90 y PS Kamolsky index. Las enfermas se separaron en grupos considerados cinco variables: edad, tipo de cirugía, tiempo desde la cirugía, estado civil y estado menopáusico. No se encontraron diferencias al nivel de significación de p= 0,05. Analizada la muestra en conjunto y comparada a una muestra de población de mujeres no pacientes, el 44,7 por ciento de las enfermas fueron consideradas casos o diagnósticos positivos. Se podría concluir que estas pacientes presentan un elevado nivel de distress comparadas a una muestra estándar, pese a no haberse identificado diferencias significativas en las variables analizadas