On the basis of complex clinical anamnestic, clinical psychopatological, pathopsychological research, data were obtained about reasons and conditions of formation, abnormal clinical psychopathological structure, syndrome peculiarities of emotional disfunctions for patients with episodic paroxismal disorders, generalized anxiety disorders and mixed anxiously depressed disorders.To realize the aim and tasks of the research, 145 patients were examined with anxiety disorders, that passed the stationary course of treatment.

The purpose of the research was to discover emotional disturbance peculiarities for anxiety disorder patients with different origins of pathological syndromes.

The basic method was a group psychotherapy with the elements of rational, positive, suggestive and family psychotherapy. In relation to disfunctions of emotional sphere, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) was used for the phobic-depressive and anxious-depressed disorders.

Decrease in general level of anxiety and internal anxiety was obtained for most patients. No spontaneous emergence of fear was practically observed. While active interviewing, patients stated that their former worries and fears have lost actuality and apparent emotional colouring, somatic-vegetative correlates of anxious states disappeared. Up to the end of the therapy course, a sense of calmness was attained as a base-line for the background emotional state. Considerable reduction of symptomatic of the depressed circle also took place. Patients’ mood increased, their interests broadened, patients started to feel joy and optimism.

To correct emotional disfunction of patients with episodic paroxismal disorders, generalized anxiety disorders and mixed anxiously depressed disorders, psychotherapeutic correction system is optimal to use, which is built based on stepwise and multimodal principles.

Opioid dependent individuals frequently complain of sleep problems in withdrawal and during abstinence.

The objectives were to assess the subjective sleep parameters among buprenorphine-maintained opioid-dependent patients and to correlate it with socio-demographics, concomitant drug use and treatment related variables

Using a cross-sectional study design, 106 hundred six opioid-dependent patients maintained on buprenorphine for at least six months and on same dose in past month were interviewed. Sleep was assessed by Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and Epworth sleepiness scale. Association between subjective sleep parameters, socio-demographics, concomitant drug use and treatment related variables was also studied.

All participants were males. Their mean age was 41.1 years (SD:14.3). The mean duration of illicit opioid use was 10 years (IQR: 5,22). About 63.2% (n=67) had PSQI scores more than 5 denoting sleep problem. The scores obtained in Epworth Sleeping Scale were in normal range. Mean subjective total sleep time of the sample was 403.5 (SD 94.8) minutes and median sleep latency was 35 (IQR 18.8, 62.5) minutes. Subjective total sleep time was significantly higher in participants who had use tobacco in the past three months (p value=0.03) and who were in moderate ASSIST risk category (p value=0.04). Subjective sleep latency was significantly higher (p value=0.04) in participants who had used opioids in last three months. It was observed that age was a significant predictor of subjective total sleep time and OST compliance was a significant predictor of sleep latency.

A sizeable proportion of opioid dependent patients on buprenorphine have sleep problems

The objective of this poster is to show the importance of understanding the situation of the patient’s family in order to know the development and role that eating symptoms are occupying both in the patient and in the different members that make up the family

Highlight the triggering and sustaining factors of a case of anorexia nervosa

Case Report

Patient is a 14-year-old woman who begins to develop excessive concern about her body image initiating eating behaviors in the form of high restriction and counting of calories from food. Also she explains that she began to compulsively perform more than two hours a day of sports in order to lose weight Family genogram: she is an only daughter, whose parents have been separated for 4 years. Parents recognize conflictive relationship. The patient recognizes a very close relationship with her mother. When she talks about her relationship with her father, she explains how she felt very close to her father when she was young but that after the separation her father moved away. She describes that his father rebuilt his life a year ago and that he recently informed her that he is going to be a father again. She recognizes intense feelings of abandonment from her father. She acknowledges that the sense of control starting with anorexia initially helped her to feel confident about herself.

Understanding the origin of the symptoms and their function is essential for a better management of cases of anorexia

No significant relationships.

The process of adjustment to disability and illness among people with chronic illness and disabilities (CID) impacts on motivation for rehabilitation illness self-management, and psychological well-being. It involves a complex interplay of biopsychosocial factors, and was seldom examined in the Chinese context.

Identify the predictors of mental well-being of people with from a set of variables including illness and social support, functional abilities, coping strategies, resilience. Examine how these factors interact in determining psychosocial adaptation and mental well-being by structural equations modelling (SEM).

We conducted a survey of people with CID, who were recruited from community-rehabilitation settings and self-help groups (N = 244). The research questionnaire collected basic demographic information, illness-related variables (e.g. pain, fatigue, functional limitations), and RIDI), social support, measures of resilience, coping, psychosocial ad as predictors, and mental well-being.

Of General Linear Model (GLM) revealed that males have better adaptation than females. Resilience, social coping, & active problem solving are significant predictors of adaptation (Table 1), while age, breathing, pain, resilience, avoidance coping, are predictors of maladaptation (Table 2). A SEM was tested to examine the interaction among the predictors and outcome of adaptation and mental well-being (Figure 1), and the model fit was fair (CFI = 0.89; RMSEA = 0.09)

The results indicated that there are gender differences in adaptation. While all the hypothesized groups of variables contributed to mental well-being of people with CID. Resilience, illness variables, and some forms of coping are closely linked to adaptation and maladaptation.

No significant relationships.

Psychiatric staff could be exposed to various types of violence that might have potential consequences on their psychological balance.

To detect post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). To assess the professional quality of life among psychiatric hospital workers.

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in the psychiatric department of the Hedi Chaker University Hospital in Sfax. The questionnaire study had three major components: the baseline participant characteristics,the post-traumatic stress disorder Checklist (PCL-5) for which a total symptom severity score cutoff of 38 was recommended as the cutoff for a positive screening test and the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQOL).

Thirty-one participants completed the questionnaire. The sex-ratio was 0.93. The mean age was 41.5 years. All participants were exposed to physical or verbal assault. Physical aggression was the most traumatic behavior reported by 39.3% of psychiatric professionals. A feeling of insecurity when performing professional tasks was reported by 93.3% of participants. Among participants, 41.9% expressed the desire to change workplace. The mean score on the PCL-5 was 21.6 ± 15.35. Five participants (16.7%) had a PCL-5 score ≥ 38. The Compassion Satisfaction mean score was 37.48 ± 5.64. The burnout mean score was 26.41 ± 7.3 and the mean score at the secondary traumatic stress scale was 27 ±6.7.

PTSD could result from stressful events encountered in the course of managing patients in mental health departments. Attention to post-traumatic event interventions may be useful both to reduce the rate of PTSD and to improve the professional quality of life among psychiatric staff.

The impact of listening to music on the stress response system has received increased attention lately.

An update of the relative research.

Literature review.

Listening to music seems to reduce stress by influencing both the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and the autonomous nervous system. Most studies, mainly conducted in healthy adults, show a decrease both in cortisol levels (a well-known stress-biomarker) and in sympathetic activity (reduction in heart rate frequency and blood pressure). Compositional elements of music such as melody, rhythm, tonality and frequency seem to influence individual relaxation responses. Most studies used classical music, nonetheless, the abovementioned effects were noticed irrespective of music genre. High-frequency music seems to have a greater role in stress-relief: 528 Hz frequency music apparently lowers cortisol and increases oxytocin (a modulator of stress response and social bonding) levels. A decrease in perceived anxiety and the induction of a positive mood state -particularly when relaxation was affirmed as the purpose of music listening- has been noticed using appropriate scales. Regarding particular settings, perioperative music may attenuate the neuroendocrine stress response caused by the surgery procedure. Music interventions in obstetric patients as well as in cardiovascular and cancer patients have led to similar findings. Finally, music appears to beneficially affect stress among patients with PSTD, fibromyalgia and depression.

The stress-relieving effect of music listening seems promising in clinical settings. The heterogeneity of the studies’ sample and the “administration” of different music intervention “schemes” are among the main limitations of the current research.

No significant relationships.

Although cyberchondria was suggested as a separate phenomenon (Starcevic, Berle, 2013, Starcevic, 2017), it is by definition related to both health anxiety, general hypochondriac beliefs and behavior and Internet use (Baumgartner and Hartmann, 2011, Eastin and Guinsler, 2006, Singh and Brown 2014).

The aim was to reveal relationship between cyberchondria in adult Internet users, Internet use and hypochondriac beliefs and behavior.

126 adults (18-70 years old) filled The Cyberchondria Severity Scale (CSS, McElroy, Shevlin, 2014), checklist of activities about health online, Scale for Assessing Illness Behavior (Rief et al., 2001), Cognitions About Body and Health Questionnaire (Rief et al., 1998).

Compulsion, Distress, Excessiveness, Reassuarance Seeking scales are related to various health-related activities online including both specialized (medical web-sites) and non-specialized (Wikipedia) ones (r=.25-.48, p<.01). Compulsion is closely related to surfing in social networks (r=.41, p<.01), excessiveness – to viewing of illnesses-related pictures (r=.48, p<.01) and reassurance seeking – to reading of online reports (r=.47, p<.01). Cyberchondria is related both to health anxiety (r=.37), hypochondriac behavior (r=.19-.41), beliefs about autonomic sensations, bodily weakness, intolerance to sensations and somatosensory ampliphication (r=.25-.31).

In general population, different aspects of cyberchondria seem to reflect health anxiety and hypochondriac beliefs but are differently related to different forms of online behavior including use of more or less specialized web-sites. Research is supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, project No. 20-013-00799.

Internet addiction (IA) is a significant public health issue among adolescents. There is considerable evidence that IA is associated with various psychosocial harms.

The aim of this study was to measure the prevalence of internet addiction among secondary school.

This cross-sectional study was conducted among 152 students enrolled in secondary school. The participants had filled the Internet Addiction Test of Young and a data file regarding the socio-demographic information, physical and information about the internet access and use.

The sample consisted of 90 males and 62 females with a mean age of 13.14 ± 1.2 years. The majority of participants had their own smartphone (83.6%). The average duration of connection among participants was 5.3 hours per day. The prevalence of IA was 14,5%. Results showed that 46,8% feel their internet use significantly hinders their family relationships. Twenty participants (13,2%) reported that they connected to the internet while they were in classroom. The prevalence of IA was higher among boys than girls (p= 0.018). There was, also, a significant relation between IA and having academic difficulties (p=0.037).

The prevalence of IA is elevated in Tunisia. Many negative consequences are identified. Urgent measures should be taken to counter the problem.

Previous studies about relationship between personality factors and stress related processes mainly focus on relation between these factors and application of coping strategies.

This study expanded previous research by examining the combined contribution of personality traits (NEO-FFI) and coping strategies (Brief COPE) in the prediction of stress, depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms (DASS-21), and psychological well-being (WHO-5) among undergraduate nursing students.

This cross-sectional study was performed in 2017. Participants of this study were 75 nursing students (men=37, women=38) from one Portuguese School of Health Sciences. The students who agreed to participate filled out an informed consent. Then the questionnaires were administered in a random order to avoid order effects in the data.

Regarding personality, women reported higher conscientiousness and agreeableness than men. There were no gender differences in coping. Among men, openness and agreeableness (inversely) and neuroticism predicted stress. In women, neuroticism and venting predicted stress. Regarding depression, conscientiousness and extraversion (inversely) and neuroticism were predictors for men, whereas neuroticism, self-blame, and denial were predictors for women. Conscientiousness and extraversion (inversely) and venting and denial predicted anxiety in men, as did neuroticism and venting in women. For well-being, conscientiousness and extraversion were predictors among men; neuroticism and seeking instrumental support (inversely) and extraversion were predictors among women. Personality traits dominated the prediction of distress and well-being in men, while both personality and coping were predictors in women.

These findings indicate that it is not the degree of each personality trait or coping strategy but the pattern of relationship between these phenomena and psychological outcomes that is of relevance. The results could inform gendered preventive and treatment interventions for college students.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-5 (DSM-5) introduced severity indices for Eating Disorders (ED).

This study assessed in a male ED sample the DSM-5 severity indices for Anorexia Nervosa (AN), Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and compared them to an alternative transdiagnostic drive for thinness (DT) severity category and a combined DSM-5/DT severity categorization

178 males with EDs were classified using: a.) a DT categorisation based on the EDI-2 DT subscale; b.) the DSM-5 severity categories for AN, BN and BED and c.) a combination of the DT and the DSM-5 severity categorisation. These severity classifications were then compared based on psychopathology and personality.

For the DSM-5 severity indices, the “mild” category was most prevalent for AN and BN, and the “moderate to extreme” group for BED. For the EDI-2 DT severity classification, the “mild” category was overrepresented in all subtypes. For the combined DSM-5/DT categorization, the “mild combined” severity group was the most prevalent for AN, while for BN and BED the “severe/extreme” combined group was most prevalent. Clinically significant findings were strongest for the DT categorization followed by the combined DSM-5/DT approach. Almost non-significant findings were revealed for the DSM-5 severity categories for all ED subtypes. These findings were most pronounced for AN and BN and almost non-existent for BED.

Our findings provide support for DT as an alternative transdiagnostic severity category for EDs in males that may be more meaningful than the DSM-5 severity indices for AN and BN, but not BED.

No significant relationships.

Over half of patients with mental disorders are seen by primary care physicians. However, as for patients with somatic problems, referral to psychiatrists seems to be sometimes necessary.

The present study aimed to identify reasons and difficulties perceived by general practitioners (GP) in mental health referrals.

A cross-sectional web-based survey was conducted between August 22 and September 23, 2020, so that 47 responses of GP were included.

The mean age of respondents was 37.3 years. Their seniority as doctors was 8 years on average. Among them, only 17% attended a post-university psychiatric training. The participants reported that they refer on average 32.5% of patients with mental disorders to psychiatrist: 85.1% to psychiatric hospital, 40.4% to liberal psychiatrists and 21.3% to clinical psychologists. Regarding the reasons for referral to mental healthcare structures, 70.2% of doctors justified their doing so by their insufficient training in mental healthcare; 66% by a need for hospitalization, 57.4% by the presence of delusions, while in 27.7 % of cases, the transfer was carried out at the request of the patient or his family. The difficulties mentioned by GP were patient refusal to consult a psychiatrist (70.2%) and difficulties related to the management delay (44.7%).

Patient and health system factors, as well as physicians experience seem to have important influences on mental health referral. Open communication and ease of consultation with psychiatrists can make the care of patients with mental health problems even more rewarding to the primary care physician.

Restraint theory (Herman and Polivy, 1975) suggests that human eating behaviour is under cognitive control and this leads to reduced sensitivity to internal cues for satiety, resulting in overeating in situations where cognitive control is under-mined (Johnson et al., 2012). In other words, restraint theory suggests that restraint (dieting) actually leads to leads to an excessive intake of food.

The present study sought to investigate the relationship between dieting, eating behaviours (uncontrolled eating, emotional eating, cognitive restraint) and rumination (repetitive negative thinking). The second objective was to determine whether rumination mediates the relationship between dieting and both uncontrolled eating and emotional eating.

The sample was composed of 188 women (Mage = 29.46 ± 8.94; MBMI = 23.16 ± 4.04). The Eating Attitudes Test, the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire and the Perseverative Thinking Questionnaire were used in the present study.

Dieting for weight control (intentional weight loss) was associated with higher levels of uncontrolled eating, emotional eating, cognitive restraint and repetitive negative thinking. Mediation analyses showed that the relationship between dieting and inappropriate eating behaviours was mediated by rumination. The direct effect of dieting on both uncontrolled eating and emotional eating was significant, suggesting partial mediation.

Our findings support the relevance of rumination in linking dieting and eating behaviours among women. The current study may have clinical applications such as the potential integration of rumination for the prevention and changes in inappropriate eating behaviours.

No significant relationships.

Web-based tools allowed the provision of psychological counseling and therapy at-distance during the COVID-19 lockdown. Nevertheless, psychologists’ attitudes towards the adoption of these tools and its impact in their professional practices need to be further explored.

The objective was to study the use of web-based tools on psychological practices before and during COVID-19 lockdown, trying to identify changes on psychologists’ professional practices related to the pandemic, as well as to explore factors that could have affected such changes.

One-hundred and eight psychologists filled-in an online survey, developed for the purposes of this study, during mandatory lockdown. The study was disseminated by mailing list, social networks, and by the Portuguese Psychologists Association.

The results have shown that psychologists kept providing their services during lockdown thanks to the adoption of web-based tools. Although psychologists have recognized that additional precautions were needed for at-distance practice in comparison to in-person interventions, the experience of using IC technologies in clinical practice was described as positive, ensuring clients’ adherence with positive results. Additionally, despite psychological services were maintained on a larger scale by psychologists with more years of experience, professionals with average experience stated more favorable attitudes towards the use of web-based tools in counseling and therapy.

Although the implementation of ICT based practice was enforced by current circumstances, the experience that psychologists gathered and shared during the lockdown can guide future professional practice, improving and fostering the replication of best practices at distance.

The situation of Covid-19 disease, associated with a high threat to life and uncertainty, had not only somatic, but also psychological consequences for most patients. Emotional reactions of patients to hospitalization and ways to cope with what is happening have become the subject of study in different countries.

To assess the severity of signs of depression and anxiety and to study the methods used to regulate the emotional state in patients with COVID-19 at the time of hospitalization.

The study volunteered 127 hospitalized patients with Covid-19 (67 men (52.8%) and 60 women (47.2%), aged 19 to 77 years, who completed the following methods: Sociological questionnaire, Beck Depression Questionnaire, GAD-7, F-SOZU-22, CERQ, Dembo-Rubinstein self-assessment scales. The study was conducted from 04/25/2020 to 05/31/2020.

A quarter of patients showed pronounced signs of depression and anxiety (25.4% and 24.13%, respectively), with women having higher rates of depression (M = 8.76 and M = 6.32, p<0.01). Anova showed no significant differences in the response to the disease situation in patients of different age groups. Factor analysis made it possible to identify 3 patterns of emotional coping with the disease: «positive decision oriented», «fixed on negative experiences», «accusers» (The resulting factor solution explains 69% of the dispersion). None of the identified patterns were associated with a significant reduction in signs of depression and anxiety.

Despite the duration of the pandemic, there is still no specific pattern of effective coping with these experiences for patients.

No significant relationships.

The tryptophan pathway along with its two branches of metabolism to serotonin and kynurenine seems to be affected in major depression. In depressed patients, peripheral levels of tryptophan, serotonin, kynurenine and their metabolite remain unclear.

Therefore, peripheral tryptophan and metabolites of serotonin and kynurenine were investigated extensively in 173 patients suffering from a current major depressive episode (MDE) and compared to 214 healthy controls (HC).

Fasting plasma levels of 11 peripheral metabolites were quantified: tryptophan, serotonin pathway (serotonin, its precursor 5-hydroxy-tryptophan and its metabolite the 5-hydroxy-indole acetic acid), and kynurenine pathway (kynurenine and six of its metabolites including anthranilic acid, kynurenic acid, nicotinamide, picolinic acid, xanthurenic acid and 3-hydroxy-anthranilic acid).

60 (34.7%) patients were antidepressant drug free. Tryptophan levels did not differ between MDE patients and HC. Serotonin and its precursor (5-hydroxy-tryptophan) levels were lower in MDE patients than HC. Whereas, its metabolite (5-hydroxy-indole acetic acid) levels were within the standard range. Kynurenine and four of its metabolites (kynurenic acid, nicotinamide, picolinic acid and xanthurenic acid) were lower in MDE patients.

This study uses the largest ever sample of MDE patients, with an extensive assessment of peripheral tryptophan metabolism in plasma. These findings provide new insights into the peripheral signature of MDE. The reasons for these changes should be further investigated. These results might suggest a better stratification of patients and different therapeutic strategies therapeutic strategies.

Clozapine is a second-generation antipsychotic indicated in treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Patients taking clozapine are likely to experience an increase in salivation or sialorrhea. Clozapine‐induced sialorrhea (CIS) may lead to sleep disturbances or aspiration pneumonia. Treatment options include locally administered anticholinergic medication with atropine ophthalmic drops applied sublingually.

To review the current evidence for the effectiveness, safety, side effects and dosage of sublingual application of atropine in reducing or resolving of CIS.

Systematic review. Data were obtained from PubMed/Medline, EMBASE, PsycINFO, Cochrane Plus, Trip Database, Science Direct and Scopus searches of English-language articles, without restriction for date of publication and study design, reporting the sublingual use of atropine in the treatment of CIS. Large clinical studies with appropriate statistical methods and recruited adults were preferred.

12 selected articles (of 458 references) consisted entirely of case reports and case series. A total of 29 patients with CIS were reported, of whom 24 responded favorably to sublingually administered atropine drops 1% (1-2 drops a day). One limitation of its utilization is the dose-related dry mouth, which can be addressed by lowering the number of drops administered. CIS can occur at different clozapine doses, in various stages of treatment.

The reviewed articles suggest that the use of sublingual atropine is a promising local treatment for CIS. Oral anticholinergic and alpha-2 agonist medications have been used to treat CIS with variable efficacy, but can cause systemic anticholinergic side effects. Further experimental research is needed.

No significant relationships.

Obesity is one of the leading problems of today’s society. According to WHO, 650 million people worldwide are obese, which is 13% of total population (in Croatia 21.5%). There are various psychodynamic theories that interpret the psychological aspects of obesity.

The aim of this paper is to present psychodynamic and contemporary psychiatric concepts that explain the interrelated phenomena presenting in obese patients.

The review of the literature included the investigation of the existing studies in the field of modern psychiatry, as well as previous knowledge in the field of psychodynamics.

Obesity is associated with the emptiness of not recognizing one’s own emotions from hunger, and the need for constant replacement. The everyday life of the obese is filled with shame, an uncomfortable perception that is so intense that can be unbearable. The emptiness and shame which overwhelm and create discomfort cannot be fulfilled by constant food intake and are associated with pathological narcissism (grandiose or vulnerable), which in turn is associated with more regressive behaviour. Thus, obesity may sometimes be associated with addictive behaviours, and a cognition that a bad pattern of rewarding behaviour through food has been adopted in parallel with poor self-control.

Relationship between psychodynamic phenomena and obesity is complex and multidimensional. Further research is needed in order to ameliorate our understanding of these connections.

No significant relationships.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a common neurodevelopmental disorder. Its underlying causes and pathophysiologies remain unclear. Recent data support the potential involvement of neuroinflammation in the onset of this disorder.

The aim of our study was to investigate the potential link between ASD and inflammatory mediators.

This descriptive study was conducted among ASD outpatients followed-up at the child and adolescent psychiatry department in the Military Hospital of Instruction of Tunis. Blood samples were collected for inflammatory cytokines dosage, notably the interleukin 1β (IL-1β), interleukin 6 (IL-6) and the Tumor Necrosis Factor α (TNF-α) immunodosage.

Twenty-four patients were included in this study, aged between four and ten years old (mean age= 6,55 years; minimum=4; maximum=10 years). Our sample was mainly represented by male patients (95,6%). TNF-α plasmatic levels were high (>5pg/mL) among all of our sample with a mean of 11,6 pg/mL (minimum= 6,87; maximum=17,7 pg/mL; standard deviation= 3,52 pg/mL), suggesting abnormal peripheral blood mononuclear cells response. However, IL-1β and IL-6 plasmatic levels were relatively normal.

An immune response dysregulation was detected in our sample. Multiple clinical and experimental studies investigated the implication of inflammatory cytokines in neurodevelopmental disruption. Their results, however, remain controversial and limited by small samples. Further studies need to be done in order to investigate the neuroimmunological factors linked with ASD.

Diabetic patients are asked to focus on their eating habits and calories intake. Together with individual factors, this could increase the risk of developing Eating Disorders (ED) associated with diabetes. A score of 20 points at the Diabetes Eating Problem Survey-Revised (DEPS-R) scale is considered as a valid threshold to identify Disordered Eating Behaviours (DEB) in diabetic patients. DEB can be considered as altered eating behaviours not fully meeting criteria for ED. As DEB are not formally recognised as specific ED in DSM-5, there is a great risk of not detecting them, thus underestimate their consequences.

To meta-analyse literature on ED and DEB, when in comorbidity with Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus, focusing on pathological medical consequences.

PRISMA guidelines were followed for this meta-analysis. Articles were identified in literature by searching into PubMed, PsycINFO and Embase.

1141 records were identified through database search. Figure 1 shows six studies comparing HbA1c % values for 2857 diabetic patients versus 752 diabetic patients with DEB. HbA1c % levels appear to be higher in patients with DEPS-R ≥ 20, compared to those with DESP-R scores below 20.

Routine screening for DEB using DEPS-R scale could favour early identification of diabetic individuals, at risk for progression into a proper ED. Clinicians should be vigilant about potential DEB when patients show poor long-term glycaemic control; similarly, patients with a DEPS-R score over 20 points may require more frequent glycaemic checks. This could help prevent serious medical complications.

Dementia’s prevalence increases due to population aging, it has become a major public health concern.

To estimate the incidence of dementia and to describe the socio-demographic and clinical profile of patients attended in the psychiatry department of Gabes (Southern of Tunisia).

It was a retrospective descriptive study including all the patients who attended for the first time in the psychiatry department of Gabes, from the 1st January, 2010 to December 31, 2018, and who were diagnosed with dementia according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). Socio-demographic and clinical data were assessed. The Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used as a neuropsychological examination.

We included 98 patients. The mean annual hospital incidence of dementia was 2.38%. The mean age was 76.5 ± 9.8 years. Patients were married (68%), illiterate (68%) and jobless (42.9%). A family history of dementia was noted in 39.8% of patients. The common cardiovascular comorbidity was high blood pressure (41.8%). Among our patients, 30 (30.6%) were smokers. The mean age of onset of dementia was 73 ± 11 years. The mean duration of untreated dementia was 3 years [3 months to 11 years]. First symptoms were mainly memory disorders (57.3 %) and behavioral disorders (17.3%) The mean MMSE score was 14 ± 4.8. Alzheimer’s disease was the most frequent etiology of dementia (80 cases, 82.7%).

Our study shows a high incidence of dementia and made it possible to draw up a socio-demographic and clinical profile of dementia patients.

No significant relationships.