Are prescribed medications effective in the treatment of insomnia complaints?

Although frequently investigated in the general population, the epidemiology of insomnia complaints and their treatment have received little attention in general practice. This study recruited patients > or =15 years of age, consecutively, from 127 general practitioners in France. The physicians collected data from 11,810 of their patients, of whom 55.5% were women. Insomnia complaints were reported by 26.2% (25.4% to 27%) of the sample and use of sleep-promoting medication by 10.1% (9.7% to 10.7%). About 47% of the prescribed drugs used were anxiolytics and 45% hypnotics. Most consumers took sleep-enhancing drugs on a daily and long-term basis and most reported that the medication improved their quality of sleep. However, few distinctions emerged between elderly drug-taking insomniacs and elderly nontreated insomniacs with respect to the various dimensions of sleep. Results underscore the persistent general tendency among French general practitioners to overprescribe anxiolytics for the treatment of insomnia complaints and that they do so on a long-term basis, despite the findings of numerous studies showing that benzodiazepines are ineffective in the treatment of sleep complaints over the long term.

Soft tissue tumors following traumatic injury: two observations of interest for the medicolegal causality.

Two cases of tumors of the soft tissues developing at the site of a previous traumatic injury occurring a few years earlier are reported. One was finally diagnosed as aggressive fibromatosis and the other as low-grade fibrosarcoma. Among the pathogenic mechanisms and the etiologic factors involved in such tumors, the posttraumatic causality is discussed, and in addition to the initial trauma, the role of iterative surgery in the first case and mineral muscular inclusions in the second case are examined. The different therapeutic approaches of such lesions are also reviewed.

Brain electrical activity mapping in the study of visual development and amblyopia in young children.

Brain electrical activity mapping (BEAM) allows the study of electrical visual reactivity on a computerized electroencephalogram (EEG). We carried out 150 BEAM studies on 120 infants to evaluate the usefulness and reliability of this noninvasive technique in the assessment of vision in very young children, compared with other methods (clinical testing, preferential looking, and visual evoked potentials). BEAM demonstrated amblyopia at a cortical level and showed specific electrical signs of amblyopia. The visual reactivity was variably affected depending on the type of amblyopia present. In addition, different results of BEAM corresponded to different kinds of visual maturation delay and strabismus in the absence of amblyopia. BEAM appears to be useful in the initial screening and during treatment of deprivation and strabismic amblyopia, especially when other methods have failed to elicit the level of vision.

Fatal injuries caused by guns using shotshell: case reports and ballistic studies.

The authors present six cases of homicide and suicide in which the weapon involved was a handgun using shotshell. The injuries caused are described and the ballistic characteristics of the weapons are studied. Such weapons, which are relatively easy to obtain, are not as innocuous as they may appear, since they may be modified either by changing the barrel or by removal of the device inside the barrel which is intended to prevent the firing of solid slugs.

Questions raised by artificial prolongation of life of the aged patient.

The existence of treatments which now make it possible to prolong life beyond the point when it would previously have ended, gives rise to particular questions in the context of the care of aged patients: the distinction between curative and palliative treatment, the evaluation of incurability, the right to refuse treatment, competence to make such a decision and the use of the limited objective and pure objective tests in the event of incompetence. The natural role of the physician as protector adds a further ethical dimension to what is also a medicolegal question.

Radiographic identification of human remains through deformities and anomalies of post-cranial bones: a report of two cases.

Human remains can be identified radiographically by anomalies and deformities of the post-cranial bones when there are no old fractures and the cranium and extremities are not available. These anomalies and deformities of the sternum, vertebrae, sacrum and innominate bone are often protected from damage by scavengers. We report their use to exclude a proposed identity in one case and to confirm identity in another case. The value and number of these criteria and their pathogenesis is discussed with reference to their prevalence and their expression of inter- and intraindividual variability.

[Drowsiness and traffic accidents. Importance of diagnosis]. / Somnolence et accidents de la circulation routière. Importance du diagnostic.

"Tiredness", often cited in civil and penal responsibilities secondary to car accidents, hides neurophysiological phenomena which must now be taken into account. The problems of watchfulness in car-driving, is sleepiness, are indeed linked to a genuine disorder in the sleep-wake rythm and attention should be drawn to them in medico-legal cases. Investigations and clinical examinations concerning 110 experts' reports confirm the role played by sleep' disorders in the occurrence of car accidents. Prevention in actually possible. Early detection can take place at various levels and concerns general practitioners, specialists of industrial medicine and specialists for driving tests. In France, the list of diseases associated with, and retraining of a driving license refer only to concentration disorders induced by drug administration, but do not mention sleep pathologies (sleep apnea syndrome, narcolepsy, etc). What is the responsibility of a driver who ignores or says nothing about a sleep pathology from which he is suffering? Is it really necessary to include these pathologies on such a list? It could be more useful to make a large audience; including children, aware of the physiology and pathology of sleep. It appears, from experts' reports, that the management of the problem requires a "driving hygiene".

[Development of jurisprudence concerning the medical contract in esthetic surgery]. / Evolution de la jurisprudence en matière de contrat médical en chirurgie esthétique.

The authors report a study of 60 years of French Jurisprudence in relation to the medical contract in cosmetic surgery. Although the obligation can only be in the form of means in the case of surgery of living tissues, a special obligation nevertheless applies when the operation is not performed as a therapeutic procedure but at the patient's wishes. It is an obligation of caution and diligence, respecting the role of proportionality in the indications and the means applied to obtain the desired objective and the safety of the patient. The application of these means will be judged by the magistrate more severely than in therapeutic surgery. A certain degree of laxity in the investigation of a causal relationship in civil law has led to the use of the concept of decreased chance of survival for the compensation of victims of serious complications occurring during cosmetic surgical operations.

[Chronobiologic organization of sleep]. / L'organisation chronobiologique du sommeil.

Interrelations between sleep and chronobiology as been studied in isolated experimental situations. A succession of hormonal regulations has been described to explain these mechanisms. Some disruptions of these regulations might be at the beginning of a lot of sleep pathologies (jet lag syndrome, burn out syndrome, insomnia...).

[Comparison of the effects of zopiclone and triazolam on the sleep of normal subjects]. / Comparaison des effets de la zopiclone et du triazolam sur le sommeil du sujet sain.

Zopiclone 7.5 mg and triazolam 0.50 mg have been compared in a double-blind randomized cross-over sleep laboratory study. After a 6-day placebo, 12 healthy male volunteers aged 20-35 years received 2 active treatment sequences of 6 days separated by a 8-day placebo period and followed by a withdrawal period with placebo for 8 days. 22 polygraphic sleep recordings have been performed. The duration of nocturnal awakenings decreases at the beginning of treatment. Sleep onset latency is significantly decreased as well as the number of awakenings during sleep at the end of treatment. Both drugs improve the sleep efficiency index. Zopiclone increases total sleep time at the beginning and at the end of treatment. Triazolam increases this parameter at the end of the study only. Zopiclone, unlike triazolam increases the duration of deep NREM sleep-stages 3 and 4--at the beginning of treatment. No significant changes in sleep parameters were seen with zopiclone nor triazolam at the end of treatment. In sleep questionnaires, sleep onset latency is shorter under zopiclone than under triazolam and daytime drowsiness is less frequent with zopiclone.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis presenting with sleep hypopnea syndrome.

Described is a 67-year-old man whose initial symptoms evoked an obesity-hypoventilation syndrome. Polysomnography showed hypopneas associated with O2 desaturation episodes, and no apnea; maximal changes were noted during REM sleep. A few months later, in spite of marked weight loss, acute alveolar hypoventilation occurred and necessitated mechanical ventilatory support. Tracheostomy was performed. The patient appeared to be dependent on nocturnal ventilatory assistance. Diaphragmatic paralysis was noted in addition to clinical and electrodiagnostic evidence of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. While the patient was not ventilated, a nocturnal recording of SaO2 again revealed desaturation episodes partly corrected by O2 2 L/min administered through the tracheostomy tube. With volume-controlled ventilation, desaturations completely disappeared, although no oxygen enrichment of the air was provided. We speculate that sleep disorders with hypopneas and O2 desaturation episodes were the initial symptoms of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. This leads us to suggest that nonspecific respiratory muscle fatigue frequently seen in COPD might be included in the hypothetic causes of nocturnal hypoxemia.

[Urinary stress incontinence in women: contribution of electromyography of the striated urethral sphincter]. / Incontinence urinaire d'effort féminine: apport de l'électromyographie du sphincter strié urétral.

Fourteen women within their menopausal period and suffering from stress urinary incontinence were studied. Electromyographic studies show that sphincter weakness is almost constant (9/14), usually associated with a bladder instability and/or a lack in abdominal urethral transmission, both conditions being known as possible causes of urinary stress incontinence. However, neurological causes at the origin of urinary stress incontinence, such as neurogenous sphincter, may be found (3/14). Electromyography, coupled with urodynamic evaluation, therefore presents itself as the most accurate method for a good assessment of correct pathophysiology in urinary stress incontinence and thereby for good therapeutic prescription.