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Recent developments have indicated a potential association between tinnitus and COVID-19. The study aimed to understand tinnitus following COVID-19 by examining its severity, recovery prospects, and connection to other lasting COVID-19 effects. Involving 1331 former COVID-19 patients, the online survey assessed tinnitus severity, cognitive issues, and medical background. Of the participants, 27.9% reported tinnitus after infection. Findings showed that as tinnitus severity increased, the chances of natural recovery fell, with more individuals experiencing ongoing symptoms (p < 0.001). Those with the Grade II mild tinnitus (OR = 3.68; CI = 1.89–7.32; p = 0.002), Grade III tinnitus (OR = 3.70; CI = 1.94–7.22; p < 0.001), Grade IV (OR = 6.83; CI = 3.73–12.91; p < 0.001), and a history of tinnitus (OR = 1.96; CI = 1.08–3.64; p = 0.03) had poorer recovery outcomes. Grade IV cases were most common (33.2%), and severe tinnitus was strongly associated with the risk of developing long-term hearing loss, anxiety, and emotional disorders (p < 0.001). The study concludes that severe post-COVID tinnitus correlates with a worse prognosis and potential hearing loss, suggesting the need for attentive treatment and management of severe cases.
Complexity stratification for CHD is an integral part of clinical research due to its heterogenous clinical presentation and outcomes. To support our ongoing research efforts into CHD requiring disease severity stratifications, a simplified CHD severity classification system was developed and verified, with potential utility for clinical researchers without specialist CHD knowledge or access to clinical/medical records.
Method:
A two-tiered analysis approach was undertaken. First-tier analysis included the audit of a comprehensive system based on: i) timing of intervention, ii) cardiac morphology, and iii) cardiovascular physiology using real patient data (n = 30), across 10 common CHD lesions. Second-tier analysis allowed for a simplified version of the classification system using morphology as a stand-alone predictor. Twelve clinicians of varying specialities involved in CHD care ranked 10 common lesions from least to most severe based on typical presentation and clinical course.
Results:
First-tier analysis identified that cardiac morphology was the principal driver of complexity. Second-tier analysis largely confirmed the ranking and classification of the lesions into the broad CHD severity groups, although some variation was noted, specifically among non-cardiac specialists. This simplified version of the classicisation system, with morphology as a stand-alone predictor of severity, allowed for effective stratification for the purposes of analysis.
Conclusion:
The findings presented here support this comprehensive and simple CHD severity classification system with broad utility in CHD research, particularly among clinicians and researchers with limited knowledge of CHD. The model may be applied to produce locally relevant research tools.
Edited by
David Kingdon, University of Southampton,Paul Rowlands, Derbyshire Healthcare NHS foundation Trust,George Stein, Emeritus of the Princess Royal University Hospital
Personality disorder represents a diagnosis very different from others in psychiatry. This is because it describes a long-standing integral part of a person, not just an affliction that has happened. Because of the sensitivity of ascribing a core part of a person’s being to the impersonality of a diagnostic term, the subject has been widely stigmatised. However, the condition is very common and affects one-tenth of the population. In this chapter, the clinical features of personality disorder identified in the new ICD-11 severity classification are described and their value illustrated. A fuller description of the ICD-11 classification can be found in another College publication.
There are five levels of diagnosis of personality disorder, including the sub-syndromal form – personality difficulty – which is by far the most common. The diagnosis of borderline personality disorder is the most used in practice but is a heterogeneous term that overlaps with almost every other disorder in psychiatry. All personality disorders have approximately equal genetic and environmental precursors, and the involvement of childhood adverse experiences and trauma is unfortunately true for this as for all psychiatric disorders.
To examine the effect of esketamine nasal spray (ESK) plus newly initiated oral antidepressant (OAD) versus OAD plus placebo nasal spray (PBO) on the association between Montgomery–Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) and 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) scores in adults with treatment-resistant depression (TRD).
Methods
Data from TRANSFORM-1 and TRANSFORM-2 (two similarly designed, randomized, active-controlled TRD studies) and SUSTAIN-1 (relapse prevention study) were analyzed. Group differences for mean changes in PHQ-9 total score from baseline were compared using analysis of covariance. Associations between MADRS and PHQ-9 total scores from TRANSFORM-1/TRANSFORM-2 were assessed using simple parametric, nonparametric, and multiple regression models.
Results
In TRANSFORM-1/TRANSFORM-2 (ESK + OAD, n = 343; OAD + PBO, n = 222), baseline PHQ-9 mean scores were 20.4 for ESK + OAD and 20.6 for OAD + PBO (severe depression). At day 28, significant group differences were observed in least squares mean change (SE) in PHQ-9 scores from baseline (−12.8 [0.46] vs −10.3 [0.53], P < .001) and in clinically substantial change in PHQ-9 scores (≥6 points; 77.1% vs 64%, P < .001) in ESK + OAD and OAD + PBO groups, respectively. A nonlinear relationship between MADRS and PHQ-9 was observed; total scores demonstrated increased correlation over time. In SUSTAIN-1, 57.3% of patients receiving ESK + OAD (n = 89) versus 44.2% receiving OAD + PBO (n = 86) retained remission status (PHQ-9 score ≤4) at maintenance treatment end point (P = .044).
Conclusions
In adults with TRD, ESK + OAD significantly improved severity of depressive symptoms, and more patients achieved clinically meaningful changes in depressive symptoms based on PHQ-9, versus OAD + PBO. PHQ-9 outcomes were consistent with those of clinician-rated MADRS.
Health warning labels (HWL) have been suggested to be effective in reducing consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB). Yet, the efficacy and acceptability of SSB HWL of different formats (textual/pictorial) and severity remain unclear. This exploratory study aims to examine the extent and mechanism through which HWL of different formats and severity may affect responses towards the HWL and SSB consumption.
Design:
Randomised online experiment. Participants were exposed to images of a hypothetical SSB bearing a HWL of one of three conditions: text-only HWL, moderately severe pictorial HWL and highly severe pictorial HWL. They then responded to theory-based affective, cognitive and behavioural measures.
Setting:
Singapore
Participants:
One hundred and twenty-seven young adult consumers from a public university
Results:
Direct effects were found for fear, avoidance, reactance and acceptability of the HWL, but not attitude, intention or motivation to consume less SSB. Pictorial (moderately severe and highly severe) HWL were associated with greater fear, avoidance, and reactance, and lower acceptability than text-only HWL. There was weak evidence that highly severe pictorial HWL resulted in greater reactance than moderately severe pictorial HWL. Fear mediated the effect of HWL of different severity levels on avoidance, reactance, intention and motivation, but not for attitude or acceptability.
Conclusions:
Exploratory findings indicate that although pictorial HWL were less acceptable, they may still be effective in influencing intention and motivation to reduce SSB consumption through the psychological mechanism of fear. Hence, graphic HWL should not be dismissed too quickly when considering strategies for reducing SSB consumption.
Serum troponin is often elevated in patients with acute stroke and its mechanism is unknown. In a retrospective single-center cohort study, we evaluated the association between stroke severity and serum troponin in 187 patients with acute stroke using multivariable modified Poisson models. A one-point increase in the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (measure of stroke severity) was associated with a marginally higher serum troponin level in adjusted models (aIRR 1.03; 1.01–1.05, P = 0.001). The modest, yet potentially independent, association between stroke severity and serum troponins could suggest a neurogenic basis for a cardiac injury in patients with acute stroke.
Since the emergence of Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 in late 2021, a number of sub-lineages have arisen and circulated internationally. Little is known about the relative severity of Omicron sub-lineages BA.2.75, BA.4.6, and BQ.1. We undertook a case–control analysis to determine the clinical severity of these lineages relative to BA.5, using whole genome sequenced, PCR-confirmed infections, between 1 August 2022 and 27 November 2022, among those who presented to emergency care in England 14 days after and up to one day prior to the positive specimen. A total of 10,375 episodes were included in the analysis; of which, 5,207 (50.2%) were admitted to the hospital or died. Multivariable conditional regression analyses found no evidence of greater odds of hospital admission or death among those with BA.2.75 (odds ratio (OR) = 0.96, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.84–1.09) and BA.4.6 (OR = 1.02, 95% CI: 0.88– 1.17) or BQ.1 (OR = 1.03, 95% CI: 0.94–1.13) compared to BA.5. Future lineages may not follow the same trend and there remains a need for continued surveillance of COVID-19 variants and their clinical outcomes to inform the public health response.
Returning to the diagnostic questions posed in Chapter 1 (Introduction), the methods by which electromyography and nerve conduction studies identify and localise pathology within muscle, nerve and the neuromuscular junction are reviewed. Similarly, the methods of assessing severity are recalled. The facility to monitor conditions is limited. The book ends with the outline Summary Table, presented at the beginning of the book, completed, as promised.
A robust association has been reported between childhood adverse life events (ALEs) and risky substance use in adolescence. It remains unclear, however, what the impact of type and timing of these ALEs is. We investigated the association between ALEs and substance use in adolescents. ALEs were operationalized as broad (e.g., moving, parental divorce, family sickness) or physically threatening (physical and/or sexual abuse). First, we examined lifetime ALEs, followed by an investigation into their timing. The sample consisted of 909 adolescents (aged 12–18 years) from a cohort oversampled on high levels of emotional and behavioral problems. The primary caregiver indicated which ALEs each adolescent experienced across their lifetime. Adolescents self-reported on number and frequency of substances used. Poisson and ordinal regression models were used to model the associations. The associations between lifetime ALEs and a substance used were observed only for physical ALEs (incidence rate ratio 1.18 [1.03, 1.35], p = 0.02). When investigating timing, physical ALEs after the age of 12 predicted number of substances used (IRR 1.36 [1.13, 1.63], p < .001). Recent ALEs (occurring after age 12) seem to have considerable impact on substance use. Alcohol and drugs as a coping mechanism were considered a plausible explanation for the results.
Criteria for assessing the severity of scientific procedures in laboratory rodents include the loss of body mass. However, guidance is limited for passerine birds and application of criteria developed for mammals risks poor welfare decisions. Here, I ask whether, and how, body mass criteria could be incorporated into laboratory welfare assessment of passerines. Passerine birds strategically adjust their body mass to minimise combined mortality risk from starvation and predation. A systematic literature review found that strategic mass changes can be sizeable (sometimes > 10%) even over short timescales. Many aspects of a bird's current or past environment, including husbandry and experimental procedures, may alter perceived starvation or predation risks and thus drive strategic mass change via evolved mechanisms. Therefore, body mass criteria used for rodents may be too stringent for passerines, potentially leading to over-estimated severity. Strategic mass changes might obscure those stemming from experimental interventions yet could also offer insights into whether birds perceive an intervention or altered husbandry as a threat. Mass criteria for severity assessment should be species- and context-specific in order to balance needs for refinement and reduction. To guide the development of appropriate criteria, a future research priority is for greater data collection and sharing based on standardised routine monitoring of mass variation under a representative range of husbandry conditions and procedures.
As we will see in the chapters to come, there is wide variety among and across different American jurisdictions in the causes and motives of the march toward increased penal severity. Generalization is possible but requires separating the system into two components: the “criminal justice system” and the “criminal legal system.”
The ongoing Coronavirus disease 19 (Covid-19) pandemic and associated mortality in children led to an effort to address risk factors and develop protective measures. Observational studies in adults showed that vitamin D deficiency is associated with Covid-19 severity. The aim of this review was to summarise data regarding the role of serum vitamin 25(OH)D concentration in the severity of Covid-19 and the associated multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). Many studies noted lower concentrations of vitamin 25(OH)D in children with Covid-19 compared with healthy controls; however, studies that assessed vitamin 25(OH)D suboptimal concentrations as a risk factor for Covid-19 severity were scarce. There was no high-quality evidence that vitamin 25(OH)D concentrations are associated with Covid-19 severity. Similarly, for MIS-C, a few studies with a small number of patients found that vitamin D deficiency was associated with more severe MIS-C. Vitamin D has many immunomodulatory actions and is consumed in the immunomodulatory cells, especially in infections such as the Covid-19 which is associated with increased inflammation and cytokine storm. Therefore, decreased concentrations of plasma vitamin 25(OH)D have been proposed to be the result of vitamin use by immunomodulatory cells in severe Covid-19, rather than a predisposing factor. In conclusion, the available data cannot prove that vitamin D deficiency is a risk factor for severe Covid-19 disease. More studies, of prospective design, are needed to investigate the role of this marker independently of other risk factors.
The present study examined the intergenerational transmission of internalizing and externalizing symptom severity, which indexes comorbidity, and symptom directionality, which indicates differentiation toward externalizing versus internalizing problems. Data are from 854 male and female, same-sex adult twin pairs born between 1926 and 1971 (32–60 years old, M = 44.9 years, SD = 4.9 years) from the Twin and Offspring Study in Sweden and their adolescent offspring (11–22 years old, M = 15.7 years, SD = 2.4 years, 52% female). Children-of-twins models revealed additive (9%) and dominant (45%) genetic and nonshared environmental (47%) influences on twins’ symptom severity, and additive genetic (39%) and nonshared environmental (61%) influences on twins’ symptom directionality. Both comorbid problems and preponderance of symptoms of a particular – internalizing versus externalizing – spectrum were correlated across parent and child generations, although associations were modest especially for directionality (i.e., transmission of specific symptom type). By interpreting findings alongside a recent study of adolescent twins, we demonstrate that the intergenerational transmission of symptom severity and symptom directionality are both unlikely to be attributable to genetic transmission, are both likely to be influenced by direct phenotypic transmission and/or nonpassive rGE, and the intergenerational transmission of symptom severity is also likely to be influenced by passive rGE.
Paliperidone palmitate 1-month (PP1M) is a Long-acting injectable antipsychotic formulation, approved for the treatment of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Recently, paliperidone palmitate 3-months (PP3M) formulation was introduced, which maintains stability while offering a longer dosing interval for the maintenance treatment in patients previously treated with PP1M. Despite of this, many patients are treated with PP1M without transition to PP3M.
Objectives
To identify variables explaining maintenance of PP1M treatment instead of going to PP3M. We hypothesize that more severe patients are delayed in transition to PP3M because of expectation to complete stabilization.
Methods
A descriptive analysis of 123 patients, diagnosed with psychotic disorders, on treatment with paliperidone palmitate 1 month or 3 months, was performed. Age, sex, type of paliperidone treatment, hospitalizations after the initiaton of treatment, years since diagnosis, polytherapy and toxic habits were some of the variables measured and compared between both groups (PP1M and PP3M).
Results
Most of patients (63,41%) were on PP3M. Both groups shared characteristics like male sex predominance, schizophrenia as the most common diagnosis, having a recent onset diagnosis, same frequency of polypharmacy and same pattern of drug consumption. There was a slight difference between both groups regarding severity. PP1M and PP3M showed respectively 33% and 16,7% of admissions after initiation.
Conclusions
No clear pattern determines less transition to PP3M from PP1M. No statistical difference was found except form the difference found in admission after change of treatment (to PP1M or PP3M), which could reflect influence of severity in treatment. Future research is needed in order to better elucidate this association.
-Anxious Distress Specifier is one of the newly added specifier in diagnosis and managment of bipolar disorder.This unique item may paly a role in not only the symptoms severity but also the degree of adherence to the psychotropics. -DSM5 Anxious distress specifier is not well studied in the 1st manic episode of bipolar disorder.
Objectives
1-To study the role of DSM5 Anxious Distress Specifier in the symptoms severity of 1st diagnosed manic episode 2-To investigate its role in medication adherence in thses patients
Methods
1-DSM 5 Anxious distress specifier interview which includes 5 items : a- Keyed up or tense b-Restlessness c-Impaired concentration. d-Sense of foreboding e-Loss of control 2-The Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS) is one of the most frequently utilized rating scales to assess manic symptoms. The scale has 11 items and is based on the patient’s subjective report of his or her clinical condition 3-Drug Attitude Inventory:consists of a questionnaire that is completed by the patient, pertaining to various aspects of the patient’s perceptions and experiences of treatment.
Results
1-There is a positive correlation between the mean score of Young mania Rating scale in 1st episode manic patients and the mean score of DSM5 Anxious Distress specifier Interview 2-The presence of high score of DSM5 Anxious Distress Specifier Interview is positively correlated to the mean score of Drug Attitude Inventory during the follow up visits after controlling the 1st episode mania
Conclusions
The presence of high levels of Anxious Distress in the 1st episde mania affected the symptoms severity and medication adherence
Currently, there are known problems of assessing the severity of psychopathological states based on psychometric (rank) scales [1]. The main problem: ranks are non-numeric information that does not allow the simplest mathematical operations (summation, average) [2] and, as a result, the impossibility of constructing correct models for evaluating states
Objectives
Development of algorithms for processing initial rank information about the severity of psychopathological states in order to obtain results in numerical form based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) [2]
Methods
Clinical, statistical, algorithms of the AHP.
Results
The problems of assessing the patient’s states are multicriteria. They are solved within the framework of AHP by constructing numerical intensity scales when measuring the dimensions of disorders. This means a correct transition from the rank scale to the scale of relations, in which the estimates are numbers that allow any mathematical operations. The implementation of AHP procedures is based on the application of the AHP normative approach [2], which uses expert comparisons of ratings of the rank scale.
Conclusions
The fundamental difference between the results based on AHP and rank results is due to the fact that numerical estimates of the severity of states are obtained, which can be used for any mathematical processing and the construction of correct models of communication and prediction of the state of patients from many factors, taking into account their weight. References: 1. Zimmerman M., Morgan T.A., Stanton K. World Psychiatry. 2018;17: 258–275. 2. Mitikhin, V.G., Solokhina, T.A. S.S. Korsakov Journal of Neurology and Psychiatry. 2019; 119(2): 49-54.
To characterize Parkinson’s disease (PD) symptoms based on the presence, onset time, and severity of rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder (RBD) and their association with impulse control disorders (ICD).
Background:
RBD is a frequent non-motor symptom in PD, usually described as prodromal. The severity of RBD according to the start time and its relationship with ICD in PD needs further clarification.
Methods:
A survey-based study was performed to determine the presence of RBD symptoms, their severity, and the temporal relationship with the PD onset. The survey included RBD1Q, the Mayo Sleep, and the RBDQ-HK questionnaires and questions about clinical characteristics, including ICD. Only PD patients with care partners spending night hours in the same room were included.
Results:
410 PD patients were included: 206 with RBD (50.2%) and 204 non-RBD (49.8%). The PD-RBD patients were younger and their daily levodopa dose was higher than the non-RBD group. Most of these patients developed RBD symptoms after the onset of clinical PD were younger at motor symptom onset and had higher scores in the hallucinations and psychosis subsection of MDS-UPDRS-I. RBD group had a more severe non-motor phenotype, including more ICD than those without RBD, mainly due to higher compulsive eating.
Conclusions:
In our study, most patients recognized RBD symptoms after the onset of the PD motor symptoms and the clinical features of PD with and without RBD were distinctive, supporting the hypothesis that PD-RBD might represent a variant pattern of neurodegeneration.
Anaemia predicts delayed sputum conversion and mortality in tuberculosis (TB). We determined the prevalence and factors associated with anaemia among people with TB at the National Tuberculosis Treatment Centre in Uganda. People with bacteriologically confirmed TB were consecutively enrolled in a cross-sectional study between August 2017 and March 2018. Blood samples were tested for a full blood hemogram, HIV infection, and CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell counts. Anaemia was defined as a haemoglobin level of <13.0 grams per decilitre (g/dl) for males and <12.0 g/dl for females. Of 358 participants, 210 (58.7%, 95% confidence interval (CI) 53.4–63.8) had anaemia. Anaemia was associated with night sweats, a longer duration of fever, low body mass index (BMI), hyperthermia, high sputum bacillary loads, HIV co-infection, and low CD4 and CD8 counts at bivariate analysis. Factors associated with anaemia at multivariable analysis were low BMI (odds ratio (OR) 2.93, 95% CI 1.70–5.05, P < 0.001), low CD4:CD8 ratio (OR 2.54, 95% CI 1.07–6.04, P = 0.035) and microcytosis (OR 4.23, 95% CI 2.17–8.25, P < 0.001). Anaemia may be associated with the features of severe TB disease and should be considered in TB severity scores.
Numerous studies have revealed strong relationships between COVID-19 and inflammation. However, the imminent link between diet-related inflammation and the COVID-19 risk has not been addressed before. So, we explored the capability of the Energy-Adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index (E-DII) to predict the inflammatory markers, incidence and severity of COVID-19. We conducted a case-control study consisting of 120 adults; they had been admitted for COVID-19 at hospital during June and July, 2020. The E-DII score was calculated based on the dietary intake, which was evaluated by a 138-item semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. Serum levels of inflammatory markers including the Erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP) and White blood cells (WBCs) differential were measured. Severity of disease was assessed by chest radiology criteria. Patients with the maximum pro-inflammatory energy adjusted E-DII score had 7·26 times greater odds of developing COVID-19, as compared to those in tertiles 1 (E-DII T3v. E-DII T1: OR = 7·26; 95 % CI 2·64 to 9·94, P < 0·001). Also, a positive association between E-DII and C-reactive protein (CRP) was observed (BE-DII = 1·37, 95 % CI 0·72, 2·02), such that with each unit increase in E-E-DII, the CRP levels were increased by 1·37 units. Furthermore, a significant association was found between E-DII and the severity of disease (BE-DII = 0·03, 95 % CI 0·01, 0·06. 0·024). Patients consuming a diet with a higher pro-inflammatory potential were at a greater risk of COVID-19 occurrence; also, the severity of disease was elevated with a high score inflammatory diet.