Conflicts associated with physicians' pregnancies.

The authors surveyed clinical faculty and residents in one medical school to assess perceived stress related to working with a pregnant colleague. The majority acknowledged stress to themselves and their departments yet indicated that pregnancy had a humanizing effect on the work environment. Although most felt that the pregnant physician maintained her professional interests and efficiency, one-third reported women of childbearing age to be a hiring risk. A higher percentage of faculty than residents favored special considerations for pregnant physicians. The authors explore age, sex, and departmental differences and suggest that pregnancy in a physician generates conflicts in her colleagues.

The relationship between depression and length of stay in the general hospital patient.

BACKGROUND: Depression is believed to complicate the care of general hospital patients on medical and surgical wards. How to compare dissimilar medical disorders and the degree of illness has been problematic. METHOD: All patients evaluated during a 6-month period by one consultation-liaison service who received a DSM-III-R diagnosis of depression were retrospectively compared with a control group without any depressive symptoms who were admitted to the same medical-surgical units over the identical period of time. The two groups were matched by primary diagnostic related groups (DRGs) and had equivalent severity of illness scores (APACHE II). RESULTS: The depressed group had a mean length of stay 10 days longer than did the control group (t = 2.42, p < .02). Depressed patients who were treated with antidepressants and supportive therapy at the time of consultation by a psychiatrist (N = 15, 83%) had a mean length of stay 31.8 days shorter than those whose major depression was not treated (N = 3, 17%) (t = 2.19, p < .04). CONCLUSION: Matching depressed patients having a variety of physical illnesses to a nondepressed group having the same primary DRGs and equivalent severity of illness demonstrates the impact of comorbidity on length of stay and potential health care costs.

Characteristics of adopted juvenile delinquents.

There have been many reports describing the uniqueness of adopted children and adolescents' delinquent behaviors in terms of both their delinquent characteristics and courts' treatment of them. A total of 43 adopted juveniles, 32 extrafamilial (1.0%) and 11 intrafamilial (0.3%) adoptions were initially identified out of 3,280 juvenile delinquents. The adopted subjects were then compared with the demographically matched and offense matched nonadopted subjects. The family variables, such as marital and employment status of parents, were significantly different. However, there were only a few discernible trends, and in general there were no significant differences between the adopted and nonadopted juveniles in terms of their offense characteristics and dispositions.

Hyperkinetic syndrome: The role of depression.

The hyperkinetic syndrome is one of many manifestations of minimal brain dysfunction and emotional distrubance. Both physical and psychologic factors can be seen in its etiology. Depression has often been found to be related to hyperkinesis. The children described in this study give ample support to the frequency of this relationship. Some preliminary hypotheses are also drawn about the dynamics of the relationship between depression and the hyperkinetic syndrome.