ABSTRACT
Background: Wolfram Syndrome is a rare genetic disorder usually resulting from pathogenic variation in the WFS1 gene, which leads to an exaggerated endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response. The disorder is typically characterized by diabetes insipidus, diabetes mellitus, optic nerve atrophy, hearing loss, and neurodegenerative features. Existing literature suggests it may also have psychiatric manifestations. Objective: To examine lifetime psychiatric diagnoses and medication history in Wolfram Syndrome. Method: Child, adolescent, and young adult Wolfram Syndrome participants (n=39) were assessed by a child & adolescent psychiatrist to determine best estimate DSM-5 lifetime psychiatric diagnoses as well as psychoactive medication history. In addition, the Child & Adolescent Symptom Inventory-5 (CASI-5) Parent Checklist was used to determine likely psychiatric diagnoses based on symptom counts in Wolfram Syndrome patients (n=33), type 1 diabetes (n=15), and healthy comparison (n=18) groups. Results: Study participants with Wolfram Syndrome had high lifetime rates of anxiety disorders (77%). Also, 31% had an obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder, 33% had a mood disorder, 31% had a neurodevelopmental or disruptive behavior disorder, and 31% had a sleep-wake disorder. More than half of Wolfram Syndrome participants had taken at least one psychoactive medication, and one third had taken at least one selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI). Some individuals reported poor response to sertraline but better response after switching to another SSRI (fluoxetine or citalopram). In general, people with Wolfram Syndrome often reported benefit from psychotherapy and/or commonly used psychoactive medications appropriate for their psychiatric diagnoses. Conclusions: Wolfram Syndrome may be associated with elevated risk for anxiety and obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorders, which seem generally responsive to usual treatments for these disorders.
ABSTRACT
The normal content of eosinophils in the adult colon and the criteria for the histopathologic diagnosis of eosinophilic colitis remain undefined. This study aimed at: (1) establishing the numbers of eosinophils in the normal adult colon; and (2) proposing a clinicopathologic framework for the diagnosis of primary colonic eosinophilia and eosinophilic colitis. To accomplish these goals, we counted the eosinophils in the right, transverse, and left colon of 159 adults with normal colonic histology. Using a database of 1.2 million patients with colonic biopsies, we extracted all adults with a diagnosis of colonic eosinophilia. We reviewed the slides from all cases and captured demographic, clinical, and pathologic data, including information about eosinophilia in other organs. We then compared the clinical manifestations of the study patients (those with no identifiable cause of eosinophilia) to those of patients with other types of colitis. The normal eosinophil counts (per mm) were 55.7±23.4 in the right, 41.0±18.6 in the transverse, and 28.6±17.2 in the left colon. Of the 194 study patients (eosinophil counts 166-5050/mm), 63 were asymptomatic and had a normal colonoscopy. Diarrhea and abdominal pain were the commonest indications for colonoscopy (38% and 27%, respectively) among the 131 patients who had symptoms, endoscopic abnormalities, or both. Neither clinical manifestations nor endoscopic appearance were sufficiently characteristic to elicit the suspicion of colonic eosinophilia. In conclusion, primary colonic eosinophilia was extremely rare in this series (<1 in 6000 patients); one third of these patients were asymptomatic. Their clinical manifestations were not distinctive and could not have led clinicians to suspect this condition; one third of the patients were asymptomatic. We suggest that regularly reporting high colonic eosinophilia may result in increased opportunities for clinicopathologic studies that might lead to a better definition of this still elusive entity.