Test-retest reliability and clinical correlates of the Eurofit test battery in people with alcohol use disorders.

People with alcohol use disorder (AUD) are at an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Physical fitness is a predictor of CVD and premature mortality. Currently, no existing measures of physical fitness used in the general population have been tested for validity and reliability in this vulnerable population. Therefore, we examined the reproducibility, feasibility and correlates of the Eurofit test battery in this population. From 32 men (age = 40.8 ±â€¯13.8years; illness duration = 10.2 ±â€¯10.3years; body mass index, BMI = 24.8 ±â€¯3.8) and 13 women (age = 41.9 ±â€¯12.1years; illness duration = 13.7 ±â€¯13.1years; BMI = 26.3 ±â€¯4.9) with AUD two trials of the Eurofit test, administered within one week, were analyzed. All patients also completed the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, the Positive Affect and Negative Affect Scale and Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. All Eurofit items showed good reproducibility with intraclass correlation coefficients ranging from 0.82 for the flamingo balance test to 0.97 for the standing broad jump and handgrip strength tests. Better performance on Eurofit test items was associated with younger age, a shorter illness duration, a lower BMI and higher physical activity levels. The current study demonstrates that the Eurofit test can be recommended as a reliable test for evaluating the physical fitness of inpatients with alcohol use disorder.

Rechargeable Stimulators in Deep Brain Stimulation for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Prospective Interventional Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: From 1999 onwards, deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been proposed as an alternative to capsulotomy in refractory cases of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Although rechargeable implantable pulse generators (rIPGs) have been used extensively in DBS for movement disorders, there are no reports on rIPGs in patients with a psychiatric DBS indication, and even possible objections to their use. OBJECTIVE: We aim to evaluate rIPGs in OCD in terms of effectiveness, applicability, safety, and need for IPG replacement. METHODS: In this prospective before-after study recruiting from 2007 until 2012, OCD patients requiring at least one IPG replacement per 18 months were proposed to have a rIPG implanted at the next IPG depletion. OCD severity was the primary outcome. Ten patients were analyzed. RESULTS: Psychiatric symptoms and global functioning remained stable in the two years after as compared to the two years before rIPG implantation. Over the same period, the prescribed OCD medication doses did not increase and the DBS stimulation parameters were largely unaltered. Until the end of the follow-up (mean 4¾ years; maximum seven years), the DBS-related surgery frequency decreased and there were no rIPG replacements. During the first few weeks after implantation, two patients obsessively checked the rIPG, but afterwards there were no signs of compulsively checking or recharging the rIPG. Two patients experienced rIPG overdischarges (five occurrences in total). CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report on rIPGs in DBS for OCD patients. The use of rIPGs in this population appears to be effective, applicable, and safe and diminishes the need for IPG replacements.