An online survey to understand the needs of caregivers of family members with 22q11 deletion syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Most individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) have multi-system and lifelong needs requiring substantial support. Their primary caregivers are usually family members who dedicate lifelong time and effort to their role. The pressures of their roles can negatively impact caregivers' psychosocial well-being, suggesting a need for additional support for this community who currently have no specialised interventions available. METHOD: This online study surveyed 103 caregivers of family members with 22q11DS to determine the barriers to accessing support that they faced, the kind of support they would value and whether an online intervention could meet their needs. RESULTS: The caregivers indicated that a brief online intervention focused on teaching practical skills and connecting them with a peer network of support would be most valuable. CONCLUSIONS: Future studies are planned that will build on these results by designing and testing online interventions tailored to this community.

Systematic review of childhood and adolescent risk and prognostic factors for persistent abdominal pain.

This review aimed to identify childhood and adolescence risk and prognostic factors associated with onset and persistence of persistent abdominal pain and related disability and assess quality of the evidence. While findings suggest a possible role for negative emotional symptoms and parental mental health as risk and prognostic factors for onset and persistence of persistent abdominal pain, the evidence is of poor quality overall and nonexistent when it comes to prognostic factors associated with disability. CONCLUSION: Further research is needed to increase confidence in existing evidence and to explore new factors. This research will inform prevention.

A computational analysis of flanker interference in depression.

BACKGROUND: Depression is characterized by poor executive function, but - counterintuitively - in some studies, it has been associated with highly accurate performance on certain cognitively demanding tasks. The psychological mechanisms responsible for this paradoxical finding are unclear. To address this issue, we applied a drift diffusion model (DDM) to flanker task data from depressed and healthy adults participating in the multi-site Establishing Moderators and Biosignatures of Antidepressant Response for Clinical Care for Depression (EMBARC) study. METHOD: One hundred unmedicated, depressed adults and 40 healthy controls completed a flanker task. We investigated the effect of flanker interference on accuracy and response time, and used the DDM to examine group differences in three cognitive processes: prepotent response bias (tendency to respond to the distracting flankers), response inhibition (necessary to resist prepotency), and executive control (required for execution of correct response on incongruent trials). RESULTS: Consistent with prior reports, depressed participants responded more slowly and accurately than controls on incongruent trials. The DDM indicated that although executive control was sluggish in depressed participants, this was more than offset by decreased prepotent response bias. Among the depressed participants, anhedonia was negatively correlated with a parameter indexing the speed of executive control (r = -0.28, p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: Executive control was delayed in depression but this was counterbalanced by reduced prepotent response bias, demonstrating how participants with executive function deficits can nevertheless perform accurately in a cognitive control task. Drawing on data from neural network simulations, we speculate that these results may reflect tonically reduced striatal dopamine in depression.

Novel loci for major depression identified by genome-wide association study of Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression and meta-analysis of three studies.

We report a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of major depressive disorder (MDD) in 1221 cases from the Sequenced Treatment Alternatives to Relieve Depression (STAR*D) study and 1636 screened controls. No genome-wide evidence for association was detected. We also carried out a meta-analysis of three European-ancestry MDD GWAS data sets: STAR*D, Genetics of Recurrent Early-onset Depression and the publicly available Genetic Association Information Network-MDD data set. These data sets, totaling 3957 cases and 3428 controls, were genotyped using four different platforms (Affymetrix 6.0, 5.0 and 500 K, and Perlegen). For each of 2.4 million HapMap II single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), using genotyped data where available and imputed data otherwise, single-SNP association tests were carried out in each sample with correction for ancestry-informative principal components. The strongest evidence for association in the meta-analysis was observed for intronic SNPs in ATP6V1B2 (P=6.78 x 10⁻7), SP4 (P=7.68 x 10⁻7) and GRM7 (P=1.11 x 10⁻6). Additional exploratory analyses were carried out for a narrower phenotype (recurrent MDD with onset before age 31, N=2191 cases), and separately for males and females. Several of the best findings were supported primarily by evidence from narrow cases or from either males or females. On the basis of previous biological evidence, we consider GRM7 a strong MDD candidate gene. Larger samples will be required to determine whether any common SNPs are significantly associated with MDD.

A review of systematic reviews on pain interventions in hospitalized infants.

BACKGROUND: Hospitalized infants undergo multiple, repeated painful procedures. Despite continued efforts to prevent procedural pain and improve pain management, clinical guidelines and standards frequently do not reflect the highest quality evidence from systematic reviews. OBJECTIVE: To critically appraise all systematic reviews on the effectiveness of procedural pain interventions in hospitalized infants. METHODS: A structured review was conducted on published systematic reviews and meta-analyses of pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions of acute procedural pain in hospitalized infants. Searches were completed in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL and PsycINFO. Two reviewers independently selected articles for review and rated the methodological quality of the included reviews using a validated seven-point quality assessment measure. Any discrepancies were resolved by a third reviewer. RESULTS: Of 1469 potential systematic reviews on interventions for painful procedures in hospitalized infants, 11 high-quality reviews were included in the analysis. Pharmacological interventions supported by research evidence included premedication for intubation, dorsal penile nerve block and EMLA (AstraZeneca Canada, Inc) for circumcision, and sucrose for single painful procedures. Non-nutritive sucking, swaddling, holding, touching, positioning, facilitative tucking, breast feeding and supplemental breast milk were nonpharmacological interventions supported for procedural pain. CONCLUSION: There is a growing number of high-quality reviews supporting procedural pain management in infants. Ongoing research of single, repeated and combined pharmacological and nonpharmacological interventions is required to provide the highest quality evidence to clinicians for decision-making on optimal pain management.

Working out the kinks: testing the feasibility of an electronic pain diary for adolescents with arthritis.

BACKGROUND: Current approaches to evaluating pain in children with chronic arthritis suffer from methodological problems. A real-time data capture approach using electronic diaries has been proposed as a new standard for pain measurement. However, there is limited information available regarding the development and feasibility of this approach in children. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to pilot test the e-Ouch electronic pain diary in terms of compliance and acceptability in adolescents with arthritis to further refine the prototype. METHODS: A descriptive study design -- with two iterative phases of testing, modifying the prototype and retesting -- was used. A purposive sample of 13 adolescents with mild to severe pain and disability was drawn from a large rheumatology clinic in a university-affiliated pediatric tertiary care centre in Canada over a four-week period in December 2004. Participants were signalled with an alarm to use the diary three times per day for a two-week period. Adolescents completed an electronic diary acceptability questionnaire. RESULTS: Overall mean compliance rates for phases 1 and 2 were 72.9% and 70.5%, respectively. Compliance was affected by the timing of data collection and technical difficulties. Children rated the diary as highly acceptable and easy to use. Phase 1 testing revealed aspects of the software program that affected compliance, which were subsequently altered and tested in phase 2. No further technical difficulties arose in phase 2 testing. CONCLUSIONS: Feasibility testing is a crucial first step in the development of electronic pain measures before use in clinical and research practice.

Sex differences in parent and child pain ratings during an experimental child pain task.

Research in the field of pediatric pain has largely ignored the role of fathers in their children's pain experiences. The first objective of the present study was to examine the effect of the presence of mothers versus fathers on children's subjective ratings, facial expressions and physiological responses to acute pain. The second objective was to examine whether child and parent sex influence parents' proxy ratings of their children's pain. The final objective was to compare levels of agreement between mothers' and fathers' assessments of their children's pain. Participants included 73 children (37 boys, 36 girls), four to 12 years of age, along with 32 fathers and 41 mothers. Children undertook the cold pressor pain task while observed by one of their parents. During the task, the children's heart rates and facial expressions were recorded. Children provided self-reports and parents provided proxy reports of child pain intensity using the seven-point Faces Pain Scale. Neither child nor parent sex had a significant impact on children's subjective reports, facial expressions or heart rates in response to acute pain. Fathers gave their sons higher pain ratings than their daughters, whereas mothers' ratings of their sons' and daughters' pain did not differ. Kappa statistics and t tests revealed that fathers tended to be more accurate judges of their children's pain than mothers. Overall, this research highlights the importance of examining both parent and child sex differences in pediatric pain research.

Genetic effects influencing risk for major depressive disorder in China and Europe.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common, complex psychiatric disorder and a leading cause of disability worldwide. Despite twin studies indicating its modest heritability (~30-40%), extensive heterogeneity and a complex genetic architecture have complicated efforts to detect associated genetic risk variants. We combined single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) summary statistics from the CONVERGE and PGC studies of MDD, representing 10 502 Chinese (5282 cases and 5220 controls) and 18 663 European (9447 cases and 9215 controls) subjects. We determined the fraction of SNPs displaying consistent directions of effect, assessed the significance of polygenic risk scores and estimated the genetic correlation of MDD across ancestries. Subsequent trans-ancestry meta-analyses combined SNP-level evidence of association. Sign tests and polygenic score profiling weakly support an overlap of SNP effects between East Asian and European populations. We estimated the trans-ancestry genetic correlation of lifetime MDD as 0.33; female-only and recurrent MDD yielded estimates of 0.40 and 0.41, respectively. Common variants downstream of GPHN achieved genome-wide significance by Bayesian trans-ancestry meta-analysis (rs9323497; log10 Bayes Factor=8.08) but failed to replicate in an independent European sample (P=0.911). Gene-set enrichment analyses indicate enrichment of genes involved in neuronal development and axonal trafficking. We successfully demonstrate a partially shared polygenic basis of MDD in East Asian and European populations. Taken together, these findings support a complex etiology for MDD and possible population differences in predisposing genetic factors, with important implications for future genetic studies.

Psychological interventions for needle-related procedural pain and distress in children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Needle-related procedures are a common source of pain and distress for children. Several psychological (cognitive-behavioral) interventions to help manage or reduce pain and distress are available; however, a previous comprehensive systematic review of the efficacy of these interventions has not been conducted. OBJECTIVES: To assess the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral psychological interventions for needle-related procedural pain and distress in children and adolescents. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) on The Cochrane Library (Issue 4, 2005), MEDLINE (1966 to 2005), PsycINFO (1887 to 2005), EMBASE (1974 to 2005), the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (1982 to 2005), Web of Science (1980 to 2005), and Dissertation-Abstracts International (1980 to 2005). We also searched citation lists and contacted researchers via various electronic list-servers and via email requests. SELECTION CRITERIA: Participants included children and adolescents aged two to 19 years undergoing needle-related procedures. Only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with at least five participants in each study arm comparing a psychological intervention group with a control or comparison group were eligible for inclusion. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently extracted data and assessed trial quality. Included studies were coded for quality using the Oxford Quality Scale devised by Jadad and colleagues. Standardized mean differences with 95% confidence intervals were computed for all analyses using RevMan 4.0 software. MAIN RESULTS: Twenty eight trials with 1951 participants were included. Together, these studies included 1039 participants in treatment conditions and 951 in control conditions. The most commonly studied needle-procedures were immunizations and injections. The largest effect sizes for treatment improvement over control conditions exist for distraction (on self-reported pain, SMD -0.24 (95% CI -0.45 to -0.04), combined cognitive-behavioral interventions--reduced other-reported distress (SMD -0.88, 95% CI -1.65 to -0.12; and behavioral measures of distress (SMD -0.67, 95% CI -0.95 to -0.38) with hypnosis being the most promising--self-reported pain (SMD -1.47, 95% CI -2.67 to -0.27), with promising but limited evidence for the efficacy of numerous other psychological interventions, such as information/preparation, nurse coaching plus distraction, parent positioning plus distraction, and distraction plus suggestion. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Overall, there is preliminary evidence that a variety of cognitive-behavioral interventions can be used with children and adolescents to successfully manage or reduce pain and distress associated with needle-related procedures. However, many of the included studies received lower quality scores because they failed to describe the randomization procedure and participant withdrawals or drop-outs from the study. Further RCTs need to be conducted, particularly for the many interventions for which we could not locate any trials.

Duration of antidepressant drug treatment. What is an adequate trial?

Data from three six-week placebo-controlled randomized antidepressant trials were pooled to test the hypothesis that a four-week trial is insufficient to reach a determination of drug failure in depressed patients. We compared global clinical ratings at weekly intervals for patients receiving drug and patients receiving placebo and calculated the proportion of patients whose clinical status changed over time. We predicted, and found, that a significant proportion of patients who showed no clear-cut response at four weeks would show much improvement at six weeks in drug but not placebo conditions. Baseline Research Diagnostic Criteria diagnosis, baseline illness severity, and drug dose adjustments after four weeks did not predict either late clinical improvement or relapse between four and six weeks. Additional placebo-controlled studies are needed to replicate our findings concerning the advantage of extending trials to five or six weeks in samples of patients of various depressive subtypes.

Use of pattern analysis to identify true drug response. A replication.

In any antidepressant study, placebo response in patients assigned active drug is a troubling source of variance. There have been few attempts to identify the patients whose conditions improve as a result of true drug effect, in contrast with improvement that is a result of nonspecific effects. In a previous report we demonstrated that true drug effect seemed to be characterized by a two-week delay in onset and persistence. We described a method of pattern analysis to identify such patients. In this report, we describe the use of pattern analysis to replicate our initial findings. Data from a new sample of 150 nonmelancholic patients support the hypothesis that true drug effect is characterized by a two-week delay in onset and persistence of improvement, once achieved. There was little evidence of the onset of antidepressant effect before two weeks. The theoretical and clinical implications of this work are discussed.

Treatment outcome validation of DSM-III depressive subtypes. Clinical usefulness in outpatients with mild to moderate depression.

An algorithm for transcribing Research Diagnostic Criteria diagnoses for depressive disorders to similar categories in the DSM-III was applied to 103 depressed outpatients previously diagnosed by Research Diagnostic Criteria. All had Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores of 18 or less. Among 64 patients completing a six-week, double-blind study comparing desipramine hydrochloride with placebo, desipramine was significantly more effective than placebo in patients with DSM-III major depression but not in those with dysthymic disorder. Among patients with major depression, a significant drug-placebo response difference was demonstrated even in those without melancholia. These findings support the clinical usefulness of the DSM-III in the treatment of depressed outpatients. Independent of DSM-III diagnosis, however, evidence of panic attacks seemed to identify patients who benefited from desipramine therapy. This suggests that the DSM-III hierarchy, which excludes consideration of panic in patients with major depression, may require revision.

Relevance of DMS-III depressive subtype and chronicity of antidepressant efficacy in atypical depression. Differential response to phenelzine, imipramine, and placebo.

One hundred ninety-four nonmelancholic depressed outpatients with features of atypical depression took part in a 6-week randomized trial of imipramine hydrochloride, phenelzine sulfate, and placebo. Their courses of illness were also rated for chronicity. Significantly more patients responded to phenelzine (71%) than to imipramine (48%), which benefited significantly more patients than placebo (26%). Both chronicity and DMS-III diagnosis predicted response on several outcome measures. For example, patients with dysthymic disorder responded better to treatment than did those with major depression, suggesting that dysthymic disorder can be treated with medication. Placebo response correlated inversely with chronicity, regardless of DMS-III diagnosis. Atypical depression and longitudinal course of illness may add to the usefulness of DMS-III depressive diagnosis as a predictor of antidepressant response.

Phenelzine and imipramine in mood reactive depressives. Further delineation of the syndrome of atypical depression.

Sixty patients who met Research Diagnostic Criteria for major, intermittent, or minor depressive disorder and had reactive mood without atypical symptoms were treated with imipramine hydrochloride, phenelzine sulfate, or a placebo. These patients, referred to as simple mood reactive depressives, were contrasted with previously published data from 180 atypical depressives. Atypical depressives had the presence of at least one vegetative atypical sign (hypersomnia, hyperphagia, leaden feeling, or rejection sensitivity) but were otherwise indistinguishable from simple mood reactive depressives. In contrast to the atypical depressives for whom phenelzine was effective and imipramine was relatively ineffective, both medications were equivalently good in simple mood reactive depressives. Since all groups did poorly when given a placebo and well when given phenelzine, the salient feature of atypical symptoms may be that they predict poor response to imipramine. Since the difference between imipramine and placebo depends on the diagnostic group, pharmacologic dissection suggests that atypical symptoms in patients with nonautonomous mood may delineate a qualitatively distinct subgroup.

Efficacy of desipramine in depressed outpatients. Response according to research diagnosis criteria diagnoses and severity of illness.

The efficacy of desipramine for mild depression was tested in a double-blind, placebo-controlled study of outpatients with scores below 19 on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D). Of 103 such patients, 23 dropped out and 16 improved during a ten-day placebo period. Among 64 patients completing the randomized portion of the study, significantly more improved with desipramine that with placebo. The Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) category of major depressive disorder largely accounted for the drug-placebo response difference found for the entire sample. Patients with intermittent depressive disorder improved significantly less frequently with desipramine than patients with major depressive disorder. Independent of RDC diagnosis, severity of illness correlated with outcome. Thus, patients with pretreatment HAM-D scores at or above the median demonstrated significant drug effect, while patients with lower pretreatment HAM-D scores did not.

Imipramine treatment of opiate-dependent patients with depressive disorders. A placebo-controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: The literature is inconclusive on the role of antidepressant medications in treating drug dependence. Studies have either not focused on depressed patients or have selected patients with depressive disorders based on cross-sectional symptoms rather than a syndromal diagnosis. A clinical trial of an antidepressant was, therefore, conducted on drug-dependent patients with syndromal depression. METHODS: Patients receiving methadone hydrochloride maintenance treatment were selected if they met the criteria for a DSM-III-R depressive disorder that was chronologically primary, had persisted during a past abstinent period or was long-standing, and persisted during at least 1 month of stable methadone treatment. Subjects were randomized to a 12-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of imipramine hydrochloride. A favorable response was defined as a Clinical Global Impression scale score for depression of 2 ("much improved") or 1 ("very much improved") and at least a 75% reduction in self-reported drug or alcohol use or abstinence. RESULTS: One hundred thirty-seven patients were randomized, and 84 completed a minimum adequate trial of at least 6 weeks. Among the 84 adequately treated patients, 57% (24/42) receiving imipramine were rated as responders compared with 7% (3/42) receiving placebo (P < .001). On measures of mood, there was a robust effect of imipramine. Imipramine was superior to placebo on some self-reported measures of substance use and craving, and mood improvement was associated with improvement in self-reported substance use. However, few patients achieved urine-confirmed abstinence. CONCLUSIONS: Imipramine was an effective antidepressant in patients receiving methadone who were selected via syndromal criteria for depressive illness. Imipramine may reduce substance abuse among patients whose mood improves; however, this effect was less robust.

Phenelzine v imipramine in atypical depression. A preliminary report.

Sixty patients meeting specific criteria for atypical depression completed six weeks of double-blind, randomly assigned treatment with phenelzine sulfate, imipramine hydrochloride, or placebo. The overall response rates were 67% with phenelzine, 43% with imipramine, and 29% with placebo. At week 6, phenelzine was superior to placebo on many measures, while the superiority of imipramine to placebo was confined to several variables. Phenelzine was superior to imipramine on the interpersonal sensitivity and paranoia factors of the 90-item Hopkins Symptom Checklist, with trends toward superiority on several other measures, while imipramine was not differentially superior on any measure. Atypical depressive patients with a history of spontaneous panic attacks and hysteroid dysphoric patients both showed extremely low rates of response to placebo and high rates of response to phenelzine. Conversely, those without panic or hysteroid dysphoric features responded equally to all three treatments. Responders to pheneizine also had greater platelet monoamine oxidase inhibition while receiving drug therapy than did nonresponders. Completion of the 120-patient sample will allow more detailed analyses.

Use of pattern analysis to predict differential relapse of remitted patients with major depression during 1 year of treatment with fluoxetine or placebo.

BACKGROUND: Delayed and persistent ("true drug") improvement characterizes the response to antidepressant medication. Early or nonpersistent ("placebo") benefit is typical of a placebo response. The prediction was that patients with a true drug response would sustain their benefit best if they continued to receive the drug and that patients with a placebo response would have an equivalent prognosis whether they continued to receive the drug or were switched to placebo. METHODS: Patients with major depression who met the study's response criteria (a modified Hamilton Depression Rating Scale score < or =7 and failure to meet major depression criteria after each of the last 3 weeks following 12 to 14 weeks of treatment with fluoxetine hydrochloride, 20 mg/d) were enrolled in a 50-week randomized placebo substitution trial during which the return of depressive symptoms defined relapse. The timing and persistency of response during initial treatment defined true drug or placebo response patterns. RESULTS: Patients with a true drug response pattern relapsed significantly more frequently if they were switched to placebo than if they continued to receive fluoxetine (P<.001 for weeks 12-26, P<.005 for weeks 26-50, and P<.41 for weeks 50-62). Patients with a placebo response pattern had an equivalent outcome whether maintained on fluoxetine therapy or placebo (P< .20 for weeks 12-26, test invalid for weeks 26-50, and P<.67 for weeks 50-62). Patients with a placebo response pattern relapsed more often when they continued to receive fluoxetine than patients with a true drug response pattern (P<.01 for weeks 12-26, P<.10 for weeks 26-50, and P<.36 for weeks 50-62). CONCLUSIONS: These findings confirm that pattern analysis validly differentiates true drug from nonspecific initial responses and extend its use to the continuation and maintenance phases of treatment for depression. Investigations into the mechanisms of antidepressant activity might best be limited to those that can account for delayed efficacy. Fluoxetine's efficacy during the continuation and maintenance phases of treatment may be limited to patients with a true drug pattern of initial response.

Imipramine treatment of alcoholics with primary depression: A placebo-controlled clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Depressive disorders are commonly comorbid with alcoholism, particularly in treatment-seeking samples. If antidepressant treatment were safe and improved the treatment outcome in the subset of actively drinking alcoholics with depression, this would be of clinical importance. METHODS: We conducted a randomized, 12-week placebo-controlled trial of imipramine hydrochloride combined with weekly relapse prevention psychotherapy. The subjects were 69 actively drinking alcoholic outpatients with current depressive disorders. The first onset of depression was either antecedent to the abuse of alcohol or occurred during prolonged periods of sobriety. Depression and drinking outcomes at 12 weeks, as well as their relationship, were measured. RESULTS: Imipramine treatment was safe and associated with improvement in depression in both adequately treated and intention-to-treat samples. While there was no overall effect on drinking outcome, patients whose mood improved showed decreased alcohol consumption that was more marked in those treated with imipramine. CONCLUSIONS: Imipramine treatment is effective for primary depression among actively drinking alcoholic outpatients, and may improve alcoholic outcome for those whose depression responds to treatment.

l-Deprenyl in atypical depressives.

We investigated the antidepressant efficacy of l-deprenyl (selegiline), a selective monoamine oxidase B inhibitor (MAOI), in a six-week open trial of 17 patients with atypical depression. Such patients have previously been shown to benefit from nonselective MAOIs such as phenelzine sulfate. Ten patients (59%) responded to l-deprenyl, but nine required dosages above the 10 to 20 mg/day used in previous investigations. l-Deprenyl was superior to six weeks of placebo administered to diagnostically similar patients in a separate double-blind study. In contrast with previous findings with pheneizine, responders to l-deprenyl differed from nonresponders by having lower baseline anxiety ratings. Even at high dosages, there appeared to be fewer side effects with l-deprenyl than with nonselective MAOIs.