Increased health burden associated with comorbid depression in older Brazilians with diabetes.

BACKGROUND: The health burden associated with comorbid depression and diabetes in older community residents in middle income countries is unclear. METHODS: Data came from a statewide representative sample (N = 6963, age ≥ 60) in Brazil. Controlled polytomous logistic regression was used to determine whether four mutually exclusive groups (all possible combinations of the presence or absence of depression and diabetes) differed in sociodemographic characteristics, social resources, health behaviors, and selected health conditions. RESULTS: While 2.37% were expected to have comorbid depression/diabetes given sample base rates (depression: 20.92% [1457/6963]; diabetes: 11.35% [790/6959]), comorbidity was present in 3.62% (52.5% beyond expectation; P<0.0001; OR = 1.58, 95% Confidence Interval 1.29-1.95). Depression without diabetes was reported by 17.3%, and diabetes without depression by 7.7%. In controlled analyses, the depression group had poorer socioeconomic status and health behaviors, and a greater likelihood of vascular, respiratory, and musculoskeletal problems than the diabetes group. Vascular, respiratory, and urinary problems were exacerbated in comorbid depression/diabetes; the comorbid group was also more likely to be female and younger. LIMITATIONS: Cross-sectional design. CONCLUSIONS: To our knowledge, this is the first study that explicitly reports on all four possible depression/diabetes combinations in an older representative community-resident sample, using controlled analyses to identify unique associations with sociodemographic characteristics and other health conditions. The burden of comorbid depression/diabetes in Brazil, a middle income country, appears to be comparable to that found in higher income countries. So, similarly, depression without diabetes had a greater odds of adverse sociodemographic and health conditions than diabetes without depression; comorbid depression/diabetes was more likely in women and young elderly, and the odds of vascular, respiratory, and urinary conditions was increased significantly. Attention to comorbid depression/diabetes as a unique entity is needed.

Tobacco use among the elderly: The first Brazilian National Survey (BNAS).

OBJECTIVE: This study describes the prevalence and pattern of tobacco use among the elderly in Brazil and establishes its association with socio-demographic characteristics, other substance use and depression. METHOD: The analyses were performed in 400 individuals aged 60 years and over who participated in the first Brazilian national alcohol survey (BNAS) in 2000. RESULTS: Nearly 60% of the sample had ever smoked, of them one in three were still smoking at the time of the interview. Most (94.3%) of the tobacco users were smoking everyday and 34.3% consuming more than 20 cigarettes a day. Only 1% of the former smokers had received support to quit. Over half of the current users (65%) would use free treatment to quit if it existed in Brazil, and just under half of them (47.4%) would consider quitting if cigarettes' price were higher. Currently, tobacco users were more likely to be men and alcohol abusers. Prevalence of depression was high regardless participant smoking status (33.0% among non-smokers, 34.7% among current smokers and 39.3% among former smokers). There was no significant association between smoking and depression. CONCLUSION: This study found a disturbingly high proportion of tobacco users among the elderly in Brazil. According to the Global Burden of Disease project, tobacco has the highest mortality risk of all substance use categories, especially for the elderly. This study shows there is an urgent need to develop smoking cessation interventions targeted specifically to the elderly.

IA-2 autoantibodies in incident type I diabetes patients are associated with a polyadenylation signal polymorphism in GIMAP5.

In a large case-control study of Swedish incident type I diabetes patients and controls, 0-34 years of age, we tested the hypothesis that the GIMAP5 gene, a key genetic factor for lymphopenia in spontaneous BioBreeding rat diabetes, is associated with type I diabetes; with islet autoantibodies in incident type I diabetes patients or with age at clinical onset in incident type I diabetes patients. Initial scans of allelic association were followed by more detailed logistic regression modeling that adjusted for known type I diabetes risk factors and potential confounding variables. The single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs6598, located in a polyadenylation signal of GIMAP5, was associated with the presence of significant levels of IA-2 autoantibodies in the type I diabetes patients. Patients with the minor allele A of rs6598 had an increased prevalence of IA-2 autoantibody levels compared to patients without the minor allele (OR=2.2; Bonferroni-corrected P=0.003), after adjusting for age at clinical onset (P=8.0 x 10(-13)) and the numbers of HLA-DQ A1*0501-B1*0201 haplotypes (P=2.4 x 10(-5)) and DQ A1*0301-B1*0302 haplotypes (P=0.002). GIMAP5 polymorphism was not associated with type I diabetes or with GAD65 or insulin autoantibodies, ICA, or age at clinical onset in patients. These data suggest that the GIMAP5 gene is associated with islet autoimmunity in type I diabetes and add to recent findings implicating the same SNP in another autoimmune disease.

Anxiety and depression symptoms in recurrent painful renal lithiasis colic.

Several studies have reported that symptoms of anxiety and depression are significantly associated with diseases characterized by painful crises. However, there is little information about the psychological aspects of recurrent painful episodes of renal stone disease. Our objective was to evaluate the association of symptoms of anxiety, depression and recurrent painful renal colic in a case-control study involving 64 subjects (32 cases/32 controls) matched for age and sex. Cases were outpatients with a confirmed diagnosis of nephrolithiasis as per their case history, physical examination, image examination and other laboratory exams. Patients had a history of at least two episodes within a 3-year period, and were currently in an intercrisis interval. The control group consisted of subjects seen at the Ophthalmology Outpatient Clinic of this University Hospital with only eye refraction symptoms, and no other associated disease. Symptoms of anxiety were evaluated by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and symptoms of depression by the Beck Depression Inventory. Statistically significant differences were observed between patients with nephrolithiasis and controls for anxiety state (P = 0.001), anxiety trait (P = 0.005) and symptoms of depression (odds ratio = 3.74; 95%CI = 1.31-10.62). The Beck Depression Inventory showed 34.5% of respondents with moderate and 6% with severe levels of depression. There was a significant linear correlation between symptoms of anxiety (P = 0.002) and depression (P < 0.001) and the number of recurrent colic episodes (anxiety-state: P = 0.016 and anxiety-trait: P < 0.001). These data suggest an association between recurrent renal colic and symptoms of both anxiety and depression.

Anxiety and depression symptoms in recurrent painful renal lithiasis colic

Several studies have reported that symptoms of anxiety and depression are significantly associated with diseases characterized by painful crises. However, there is little information about the psychological aspects of recurrent painful episodes of renal stone disease. Our objective was to evaluate the association of symptoms of anxiety, depression and recurrent painful renal colic in a case-control study involving 64 subjects (32 cases/32 controls) matched for age and sex. Cases were outpatients with a confirmed diagnosis of nephrolithiasis as per their case history, physical examination, image examination and other laboratory exams. Patients had a history of at least two episodes within a 3-year period, and were currently in an intercrisis interval. The control group consisted of subjects seen at the Ophthalmology Outpatient Clinic of this University Hospital with only eye refraction symptoms, and no other associated disease. Symptoms of anxiety were evaluated by the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory and symptoms of depression by the Beck Depression Inventory. Statistically significant differences were observed between patients with nephrolithiasis and controls for anxiety state (P = 0.001), anxiety trait (P = 0.005) and symptoms of depression (odds ratio = 3.74; 95 percentCI = 1.31-10.62). The Beck Depression Inventory showed 34.5 percent of respondents with moderate and 6 percent with severe levels of depression. There was a significant linear correlation between symptoms of anxiety (P = 0.002) and depression (P < 0.001) and the number of recurrent colic episodes (anxiety-state: P = 0.016 and anxiety-trait: P < 0.001). These data suggest an association between recurrent renal colic and symptoms of both anxiety and depression.

Self-help treatments for disorders of recurrent binge eating: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate self-help interventions for patients with binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN), tested in randomized controlled trials, and compared with waiting list or any other type of control group. METHODS: A systematic review including quality appraisal was conducted of randomized controlled trials, using self-help techniques in patients with BED and/or BN. Six databases were searched during the period between January 1994 and June 2004. RESULTS: A total of 2686 articles were identified, 1701 abstracts were evaluated in detail and, nine studies fulfilled the inclusion criteria for this review. All studies indicated that patients treated with active interventions had a reduced number of binge eating episodes at end of treatment. CONCLUSION: The results support self-help interventions but shall be interpreted with caution. Because of the small number of studies using self-help techniques for BED and BN, further larger randomized, multi-center controlled studies that apply standardized inclusion criteria, evaluation instruments and self-help materials, are needed.

Systemic mechanisms of individual reproductive life history in female Medflies.

This paper is the second one in a series of two papers hypothesizing and testing systemic grounds of reproductive life history in the female fruit fly. In the first paper, we analyzed mechanisms of individual fecundity scheduling and have drawn the following conclusions. Individual fecundity in female flies is endowed as a flat pattern with a steady-state period of a constant rate of egg-laying. An individual female reveals three stages in her adult life history: maturation, maturity, and senescence. The first stage is a transient period of achieving a steady state at maturity, which can be maintained until the senescence stage. Thus, an individual fecundity pattern has no maximum. The maximums observed experimentally are averaging-caused artifacts. Two natural causes of deaths exist in flies, senescence-caused ones and premature deaths, probably due to a reproductive overload. In this paper, to confirm these findings, we use individual daily scores of egg-laying in four populations of Mediterranean fruit flies. Based on fecundity scores, we divide each Medfly population into four classes, namely zero-egg, short-, medium- and long-lived egg-layers. We demonstrate that, indeed, the three above findings definitely exist in Medflies. Our procedure allows the efficient storage of individual fecundity in parametric form, with only five numbers for each fly. Finally, this protocol will allow a more precise analysis of fecundity-energy trade-offs in flies carrying appropriate longevity mutations.

[The experience of public service users with group psychotherapy: a qualitative study]. / A experiência de usuários do serviço público em psicoterapia de grupo: estudo qualitativo.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the experience of public service users in a time-limited psychotherapeutic group dynamic intervention. METHODS: Eleven patients were randomly selected from a group of 52 who had participated in an efficacy study and were interviewed in-depth. Their account was submitted to content analysis, according to the Grounded Theory methodology. RESULTS: In general, patients accepted well and positively evaluated the psychotherapy intervention. The main findings were the importance of patient's interaction with the group participants, and their therapeutic course after the intervention, when most of them carried on with psychotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: The psychotherapeutic intervention was well accepted among the patients, had a favorable outcome and stimulated them to proceed with psychotherapy.

[Reliability of diagnostic instruments: investigating the psychiatric DSM-III checklist applied to community samples]. / Confiabilidade de instrumentos diagnósticos: estudo do inventário de sintomas psiquiátricos do DSM-III aplicado em amostra populacional.

This study focused on the reliability of the DSM-III inventory of psychiatric symptoms in representative general population samples in three Brazilian cities. Reliability was assessed through two different designs: inter-rater reliability and internal consistency. Diagnosis of lifetime (k = 0.46) and same-year generalized anxiety (k = 1.00), lifetime depression (k = 0.77), and lifetime alcohol abuse and dependence (k = 1.00) was consistently reliable in the two methods. Lifetime diagnosis of agoraphobia (k = 1.00), simple phobia (k = 0.77), non-schizophrenic psychosis (k = 1.00), and psychological factors affecting physical health (1.00) showed excellent reliability as measured by the kappa coefficient. The main reliability problem in general population studies is the low prevalence of certain diagnoses, resulting in small variability in positive answers and hindering kappa estimation. Therefore it was only possible to examine 11 of 39 diagnoses in the inventory. We recommend test and re-test methods and a short time interval between interviews to decrease the errors due to such variations.

An annotated bibliography of Latin American psychotherapy studies.

This article reviews the literature produced by Latin American investigators on the efficacy of psychotherapy. Sixteen studies are described in relation to the aims of the study, patients' diagnoses, sample size, theoretical framework, intervention time, data collection, and main results. Few studies of this type were found, and they were mainly open trials with methodological limitations. Comparison of results was difficult because authors did not plan studies with a view to their being compared. The state of psychotherapy in Latin America is discussed.

Nutritional correlates of reproductive success of male Mediterranean fruit flies (Diptera: Tephritidae)

We examined the hypothesis that adult diet affects the reproductive success of male Mediterranean fruit flies. In particular we determined whether protein-fed males copulated more frequently than protein-deprived males. Furthermore, we determined whether the nutritional status of their first sexual partner affects the renewal of female receptivity. Males fed no protein copulated at a significantly lower rate than did males fed protein. In both diet groups, size was significantly associated with copulatory success. Protein-deprived males transferred significantly more sperm to their mates than did protein-fed males. However, significantly more females mated to protein-deprived males re-mated on the following day. We conclude that male diet is a significant factor in determining male reproductive success. Male diet affects the ability to gain copulations with virgin females, and the receptivity of these females to further copulations.

Psychogenic (reactive) and hysterical psychoses: a cross-system reliability study.

The aim of this study was to investigate the concepts of reactive and hysterical psychoses and how they are classified in standardized diagnostic systems. To this end we identified all of the patients who had been admitted to a psychiatric in-patient unit and diagnosed as suffering from psychogenic psychosis, reactive psychosis, hysterical psychosis or hysteria, using ICD-9 criteria. The case notes of these patients were then re-examined and diagnoses reached using DSM-III-R, DSM-IV and ICD-10 criteria and the Present State Examination (PSE)/CATEGO computer program. The objective of this study was to evaluate the agreement between the diagnoses of reactive and hysterical psychosis obtained using ICD-9 criteria with those obtained using the DSM-III-R, DSM-IV, ICD-10 and PSE diagnostic systems. A total of 67 case notes were identified in which the above diagnoses had been made: 27 cases with ICD-9 'hysteria' and 26 cases with 'other reactive and not otherwise specified psychoses'. Using the DSM-III-R criteria, 27 cases were diagnosed as psychotic disorder NOS, 12 as brief reactive psychosis and 11 as bipolar disorder. Using the DSM-IV criteria, 21 cases were diagnosed as psychotic disorder NOS, 11 as mood disorder, 7 as brief disorder without stressor, and 12 as brief disorder with stressor. Using the ICD-10 criteria, 18 cases were diagnosed as unspecified non-organic psychosis, 12 as mood disorder, 10 as acute and transient psychotic disorder without stressor and 13 as acute and transient psychotic disorder with stressor. Using the PSE/CATEGO program, the most common diagnoses were class 'S' schizophrenia (17), class 'P?' uncertain psychosis (16) and class 'M+' mixed and manic affective disorder (11). Using the kappa coefficient a very low level of agreement was found between ICD-9 'hysteria' and 'other reactive and non-specified psychoses' and the corresponding categories of DSM-III-R and the PSE/CATEGO program. We concluded that, although DSM-III-R provides operational criteria for brief reactive psychosis, and DSM-IV and ICD-10 provide such criteria for brief or acute psychotic disorder, these bear little relationship to the original concept of the disorder. The PSE/CATEGO program provides a very systematic approach to symptomatology, but the diagnostic classes have little clinical usefulness.

[The factor structure of the adult psychiatry morbidity questionnaire in a community sample of Brazilian cities]. / Estrutura fatorial do questionário de morbidade psiquiátrica de adultos aplicado em amostras populacionais de cidades brasileiras.

Principal Components Analysis is a multivariate statistical technique for the purpose of examining the interdependence among variables. The main characteristic of this technique is the ability to reduce data, and it is currently used as an adjunct for the development of psychiatric research tools and the classification of psychiatric disorders. It has been applied to the study of the Factorial Structure of a Brazilian screening questionnaire, the Adult Psychiatric Morbidity Questionnaire (QMPA). The questionnaire is made up of 45 yes/no items for the identification of psychiatric symptoms and the use of psychiatric services and psychotropic drugs. The questionnaire was applied to 6.470 subjects over 15 years old in representative samples from three urban areas: Brasília, Porto Alegre and S. Paulo. Seven factors were found to explain 42.7% of the total variance: Anxiety/Somatization (eigenvalue = 3.81, 10.9%); Irritability/Depression (eigenvalue = 2.41, 6.9%); Cognitive Impairment (eigenvalue = 2.01, 5.8%); Alcoholism (eigenvalue = 1.90, 5.4%); Mood Elation (eigenvalue = 1.62, 4.6%); Hallucinatory/Delusional Disorders (eigenvalue = 1.60, 4.6%); and Drug/Therapies (eigenvalue = 1.60, 4.5%). A similar pattern of results was found when the analysis was carried out in the three places. It is suggested, on the banis of these findings, that some questions should be modified and some excluded in any future version of the questionnaire.

Mental illness in a cross-national perspective. Results from a Brazilian and a German community survey among the elderly.

Findings for unselected samples for the elderly in two urban populations - one in Mannheim, Germany (n = 418) and the other in Sao Paulo, Brazil (n = 111) - are compared and contrasted. Each study was restricted to persons aged over 65 years living in private households, and each employed a single-stage method of psychiatric case-identification, based on the Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS). Apart from marked differences in educational standards and proportions living alone the two samples were broadly similar in their recorded socio-demographic characteristics. Comparison revealed no significant difference in total prevalence, though there was a trend towards a higher case-frequency in Sao Paulo (29.7%) than in Mannheim (23.3%). The clinical-item profiles for the two samples indicated a higher rate of symptom reporting in Sao Paulo, whereas the Mannheim sample had higher mean scores for a number of psychiatric abnormalities observed at interview. Separate cluster analyses carried out on the two data sets divided the samples into four pairs of sub-groups with similar clinical profiles, which were designated respectively as 'organic', 'depressive', 'neurotic' and 'normal'. While a more careful standardization of method would probably reduce the observed disparities between the samples, some of these are thought to be real and to relate to sociocultural differences, as well as to the greater stresses of daily life in Sao Paulo.

The use of the Clinical Interview Schedule for the evaluation of mental health in the aged community.

As a part of a survey to study the health and living conditions of the elderly population, a random sample of residents aged 65 and over are examined using the Clinical Interview Schedule (CIS) in order to evaluate their psychiatric status. The aim of this study is to evaluate this standard method of assessment as a case-identification instrument in our country. The schedule was completed by 91 subjects. It is easily administered, easily scored, and economical on time. Its completion rate is high. The weighted total scores (WTS) range from 0 to 48. Using the case criteria defined by Cooper & Schwarz (1982), 27 subjects (30%) are considered cases and 64 (70%) are regarded as non-cases. The sensitivity coefficients for the WTS are examined against the overall severity rating at different cut-off points. The optimum cut-off can be anywhere between 16 and 20 points. The WTS has higher validity coefficients to detect the following diagnostic categories (sensitivity, specificity): normals (100%,-); personality (100%, 92%) and affective disorders (100%, 75%). In general the CIS items are given low ratings. Psychotic symptoms are rarely found in this sample. One main problem arose: the item depersonalization is misunderstood by some patients probably because of interpreting it as an upsetting memory disturbance.

The use of the face-hand test to screen for organic brain syndromes. A pilot study.

A reduced version of the Face-Hand Test (FHT), the FHT-R, was applied to a random sample of 91 elderly subjects living in the community (S. Paulo-Brazil), to study the instrument's ability to detect Organic Brain Syndrome (OBS). The scores of the FHT-R test were then compared with a psychiatric assessment using the Clinical Interview Schedule. Five persons were regarded as OBS "cases" and 86 as OBS "non cases". At the cut-off point 0/1 the validity coefficients were as follows: Sensitivity 60%, Specificity 94%, Positive Predictive Value 38%, Negative Predictive Value 98% and Overall Misclassification Rate 8%. The usefulness of this clinical test to screen for OBS in epidemiological surveys is discussed.

Validity of a Brazilian version of the Older Americans Resources and Services (OARS) mental health screening questionnaire.

A validity study of the Brazilian version of the 15-item Short Psychiatric Evaluation Schedule (SPES), included in the mental health assessment of Older Americans Resources and Services (OARS), designed to detect psychiatric disorders in the elderly, against the "caseness" criterion suggested by Cooper and Schwarz was carried out with a community sample, as part of a survey to study health and living conditions of the elderly in a large urban center of a developing country, São Paulo, Brazil. The screening questionnaire was completed by 292 subjects, and 91 were selected for the psychiatric interview. The validity coefficients were as follows: sensitivity 61%, specificity 89%, positive predictive value 66%, negative predictive value 87% and misclassification rate 18%. A discriminant analysis using a stepwise procedure was then applied to select the best item discriminators of the screening questionnaire. The best set of discrimination comprised six items leading to the following validity coefficients: sensitivity 82%, specificity 77%, positive predictive value 58%, negative predictive value 92% and misclassification rate 21%. The possible factors related to false positive and false negative responses on the screening are discussed.