Neuropsychiatric Symptoms and Caregiver Burden in Parkinson's Disease.

OBJECTIVE: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder. It has a significant impact on the quality of life of patients and their caregivers. The present study aims to study the phenomena of neuropsychiatric symptoms and their association with caregiver burden in PD. METHODS: The study was conducted in 100 patients of Parkinson's disease and their primary caregivers. The patients of PD were diagnosed on the basis of UK Brain Bank criteria; severity/staging of Parkinson's disease was done by Movement Disorder Society - Unified Parkinson's disease rating scale (MDS-UPDRS-III). Patients who fulfilled inclusion and exclusion criteria were recruited for the study. The neuropsychiatric evaluation was based on Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Questionnaire (NPI-Q). Caregiver burden was assessed with the Zarit Caregiver Burden Inventory (ZCBI). RESULTS: Mean age of PD patients was 61.48 ± 6.71 years, majority of them were males (68%). Mean total NPI score of patients was 44.46 ± 5.38. Mean age of caregivers was 52.26 ± 6.80 years, majority of them were females (72%) and spouse (76%) in relation to the patient. Caregiver burden was significantly related to age of the patient, duration of illness, severity of illness, and total NPI score. CONCLUSION: Neuropsychiatric symptoms significantly contribute to the caregiver burden in Parkinson's disease.

Association of psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis with osteoporosis and pathological fractures.

BACKGROUND: Previous studies examining the relationship between psoriasis (Pso), osteoporosis, and pathological fractures found conflicting results. OBJECTIVE: To determine whether Pso and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) are associated with osteoporosis and fractures in US adults. METHODS: Cross-sectional study of 198,102,435 children and adults, including 183,725 with Pso and 28,765 with PsA from the 2006-2012 National Emergency Department Sample, including 20% of the emergency care visits throughout the United States. RESULTS: In a pooled analysis across all 7 years, patients with Pso had significantly higher odds (multivariate logistic regression; odds ratio, 95% confidence intervals) of diagnosis with osteopenia (2.86, 2.70-3.02), osteoporosis (2.97, 2.89-3.06), osteomalacia (4.40, 2.50-7.74), ankylosing spondylitis (13.34, 12.02-14.81), and pathological fractures (2.35, 2.19-2.53). Similar associations were observed for PsA. Pso was also associated with vertebral (1.17, 1.09-1.25), pelvic (1.18, 1.06-1.31), femoral (1.68, 1.60-1.78), and tibial/fibular fractures (1.28, 1.16-1.41). Whereas, PsA was associated with stress (2.87, 1.08-7.64) and vertebral (1.45, 1.24-1.70), pelvic (1.75, 1.41-2.18), femoral (2.07, 1.85-2.32), and tibial/fibular (1.60, 1.28-2.01) fractures. LIMITATIONS: Data on severity and treatments of Pso were not available. CONCLUSION: Pso and PsA were associated with osteopenia, osteoporosis, ankylosing spondylitis, and pathologic fractures.

Analysis of National Trends in Admissions for Pulmonary Embolism.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary embolism (PE) remains a significant cause of hospital admission and health-care costs. Estimates of PE incidence came from the 1990s, and data are limited to describe trends in hospital admissions for PE over the past decade. METHODS: We analyzed Nationwide Inpatient Sample data from 1993 to 2012 to identify patients admitted with PE. We included admissions with International Classification of Diseases, 9th revision, codes listing PE as the principal diagnosis as well as admissions with PE listed secondary to principal diagnoses of respiratory failure or DVT. Massive PE was defined by mechanical ventilation, vasopressors, or nonseptic shock. Outcomes included hospital lengths of stay, adjusted charges, and all-cause hospital mortality. Linear regression was used to analyze changes over time. RESULTS: Admissions for PE increased from 23 per 100,000 in 1993 to 65 per 100,000 in 2012 (P < .001). The percent of admissions meeting criteria for massive PE decreased (5.3% to 4.4%, P = .002), but the absolute number of admissions for massive PE increased (from 1.5 to 2.8 per 100,000, P < .001). Median length of stay decreased from 8 (interquartile range [IQR], 6-11) to 4 (IQR, 3-6) days (P < .001). Adjusted hospital charges increased from $16,475 (IQR, $10,748-$26,211) in 1993 to $25,728 (IQR, $15,505-$44,493) in 2012 (P < .001). All-cause hospital mortality decreased from 7.1% to 3.2% (P < .001), but population-adjusted deaths during admission for PE increased from 1.6 to 2.1 per 100,000 (P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Total admissions and hospital charges for PE have increased over the past two decades. However, the population-adjusted admission rate has increased disproportionately to the incidence of patients with severe PE. We hypothesize that these findings reflect a concerning national movement toward more admissions of less severe PE.

Effectiveness of Culturally Appropriate Adaptations to Juvenile Justice Services.

Despite efforts to increase cultural competence of services within juvenile justice systems, disproportional minority contact (DMC) persists throughout Canada and the United States. Commonly cited approaches to decreasing DMC include large-scale systemic changes as well as enhancement of the cultural relevance and responsiveness of services delivered. Cultural adaptations to service delivery focus on prevention, decision-making, and treatment services to reduce initial contact, minimize unnecessary restraint, and reduce recidivism. Though locating rigorous testing of these approaches compared to standard interventions is difficult, this paper identifies and reports on such research. The Cochrane guidelines for systematic literature reviews and meta-analyses served as a foundation for study methodology. Databases such as Legal Periodicals and Books were searched through June 2015. Three studies were sufficiently rigorous to identify the effect of the cultural adaptations, and three studies that are making potentially important contributions to the field were also reviewed.