Psychosocial disability during the long-term course of unipolar major depressive disorder

BACKGROUND: The goal of this study was to investigate psychosocial disability in relation to depressive symptom severity during the long-term course of unipolar major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: Monthly ratings of impairment in major life functions and social relationships were obtained during an average of 10 years' systematic follow-up of 371 patients with unipolar MDD in the National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative Depression Study. Random regression models were used to examine variations in psychosocial functioning associated with 3 levels of depressive symptom severity and the asymptomatic status. RESULTS: A progressive gradient of psychosocial impairment was associated with a parallel gradient in the level of depressive symptom severity, which ranges from asymptomatic to subthreshold depressive symptoms to symptoms at the minor depression/dysthymia level to symptoms at the MDD level. Significant increases in disability occurred with each stepwise increment in depressive symptom severity. CONCLUSIONS: During the long-term course, disability is pervasive and chronic but disappears when patients become asymptomatic. Depressive symptoms at levels of subthreshold depressive symptoms, minor depression/ dysthymia, and MDD represent a continuum of depressive symptom severity in unipolar MDD, each level of which is associated with a significant stepwise increment in psychosocial disability.     

The development of clinical indicators for a consultation-liaison service

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to describe the development and implementation of clinical indicators in the consultation-liaison service at Royal Melbourne Hospital (RMH). METHOD: A working party lead by the University of Melbourne was established in 1998 to develop clinical indicators and a database for the RMH consultation-liaison service. Core parameters for measuring service functioning and six clinical indicators were developed. The system was implemented using a data collection form and computerised database operating within a system of regular clinical reviews. RESULTS: The clinical indicators, database and review system were found to be a feasible, useful and efficient addition to a consultation-liaison service at a major general hospital. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical indicators may be used within specialist psychiatry services to enhance clinical care and aid in service development and teaching.     

A brief assessment of psychosocial functioning of subjects with bipolar I disorder: the LIFE-RIFT. Longitudinal Interval Follow-up Evaluation-Range Impaired Functioning Tool

Those afflicted with bipolar disorder often suffer from substantial functional impairment both when in episode and when in remission. This study examined the psychometric properties of a brief assessment of psychosocial functioning, the Range of Impaired Functioning Tool (LIFE-RIFT), among subjects with bipolar I disorder. The study sample consisted of 163 subjects who presented with bipolar I disorder at intake into the NIMH Collaborative Depression Study (CDS). All LIFE-RIFT items come from the Longitudinal Interval Follow-up Evaluation (LIFE). Follow-up data that were used to examine the reliability and validity of the scale come from assessments of psychosocial functioning that were conducted 6, 12, 18, and 24 months after intake into the CDS. The results of factor analyses indicate that the scale items are measures of one construct, psychosocial functioning. The interrater agreement on the scale score was very good with an intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.94. The internal consistency reliability among the scale items was uniformly satisfactory over the four assessment periods, with coefficient alpha ranging from 0.78 to 0.84. Mixed-effect regression analyses showed that during mood episodes subjects were significantly more impaired than those in recovery. In conclusion, the psychometric properties of the LIFE-RIFT were examined in subjects with bipolar I disorder. The analyses from this longitudinal, observational study provide empirical support for the reliability and validity of the scale. The LIFE-RIFT provides a brief, inexpensive alternative to scales currently used to assess psychosocial functioning and can be easily added to semistructured assessments that are used in clinical and treatment outcome studies.     

High blood pressure and the kidney: the forgotten contribution of William Senhouse Kirkes

The realization of the key role for raised intra-arterial pressure as a pathogenetic agent in hypertension is usually credited to Ludwig Traube, but Traube in his writings gives credit for the idea to a little-known English doctor, William Senhouse Kirkes (1822-1864). Kirkes' main interest was in cardiology and vascular disease, and he gave the first account of embolism from vegetations in infective endocarditis in 1852. Three years later, he published a study of apoplexy in Bright's disease, in which he pointed clearly to the role of raised intra-arterial tension in the causation of arterial disease, a point that had eluded Bright, Johnson, and other contemporaries. Kirkes died at the age of only 42 while working on a book summarizing his work on cardiology and renal disease, and the neglect of his contribution probably resulted from his early death. We have traced his life history from the few available records; as a boy, Kirkes was apprenticed to become a surgeon and only later trained as a physician. We place his contributions within the setting of the development during the 19th century of understanding of the relationship between the kidney, vascular disease, and high blood pressure.     

The new GMS contract: impact and implications for managing the changes.

BACKGROUND: In February 2003, a new General Practitioner (GP) contract was agreed between the profession's leaders and the government, which was later accepted following a national ballot of GPs. However, the ballot simply required respondents to vote for or against the proposal; it did not provide any opportunity to identify which aspects of the new contract were more or less acceptable. Since the proposed changes were far reaching, the implications of implementing and managing these were considerable. Consequently, some information about how GPs viewed various components of the new contract would enable a more targeted and effective management strategy to be developed that would facilitate the introduction of all aspects of the contract. OBJECTIVES: To survey GPs working within the West Midlands region regarding their opinions on each of the key features of the new contract. METHOD: A postal survey of 360 GPs was undertaken, using a specially devised questionnaire. RESULTS: Four factors emerged as the most acceptable aspects of the contract: option to opt out of out-of-hours work, flexibility in the services provided, prediction of future income levels and linking practice to performance targets. Least acceptable were: performance monitoring systems, the new financial formula for calculating income, greater patient involvement in service development and 24/48 hour access. With regard to potential outcomes of the contract, the most positive were considered to be increased proportion of salaried GPs, increased salaries, appropriate quality standards for care, earlier retirement; the factors least likely to be of potential benefit were: reduction in occupational stress, simplification of the regulatory framework, improved equity of workload and improved staff retention. Further analysis of the results using inferential statistics revealed a range of subgroup differences in reaction to the contract. CONCLUSION: Overall, those aspects of the new contract that are perceived to reduce workload and enhance salary were supported, while those that increase targets and bureaucracy were not. Generally, there was only moderate support for the changes, which could be explained by a general scepticism about any top-down modifications, the practicality and power of the changes to impact upon practice and/or a genuine belief that the modifications are unacceptable. Taken together, these results provide an indicative focus for managing the implementation of the new contract, especially with regard to its least acceptable components and the emerging differences between subgroups of GPs.     

Delineating the longitudinal structure of depressive illness: beyond clinical subtypes and duration thresholds

Through the use of polysomnographic, epidemiologic, and prospective clinical follow-up studies, the authors document that the course of major depressive disorder (MDD) is expressed by fluctuating symptoms in which depressive subtypes included in official diagnostic systems do not represent discrete disorders, but are stages along a dimensional continuum of symptomatic severity. Depressive symptoms at the major, minor, dysthymic or otherwise sub-threshold levels are all integral components of the longitudinal clinical structure of MDD with each symptom level representing a different phase of illness intensity, activity and severity. Detailed analyses indicate that patients are symptomatic 60 % of the time, much of it at the minor, dysthymic or subthreshold level. The symptomatic phases of illness activity are interspersed sporadically with inactive phases, when patients are asymptomatic. These findings are pertinent to both clinical cohorts and community-based epidemiologic samples. Each level of depressive symptom severity is associated with significant psychosocial impairment; such impairment increases progressively with each stepwise increment in symptom severity. When patients are asymptomatic their psychosocial functioning returns to good or very good levels. Residual subthreshold symptoms in the course of MDD are associated with high risk for early episode relapse and a significantly more chronic course of illness. Asymptomatic recovery from MDD is associated with significant delays in episode relapse and recurrence and a more benign course of illness. We submit that, as in the case of chronic medical conditions, the goal of treating unipolar depressive illness should optimally be to return the patient to as asymptomatic a level as is feasible by all available therapeutic means.     

The changing face of prostate cancer.

Prostate cancer remains the most common noncutaneous human malignancy, and the second most lethal tumor among men. However, the natural history of the disease is often prolonged, and the survival benefits of local therapy for men with low-risk tumors may not be realized for a decade or more, as is increasingly well demonstrated in long-term observational cohorts in both the United States and Europe. A significant proportion of men with prostate cancer may be overdiagnosed, in the sense that diagnosis may not improve their lifespan or quality of life. However, the extent to which overdiagnosis represents a true problem relates to the consistency with which diagnosis leads invariably to active treatment. Prostate cancer is diagnosed at progressively earlier stages and with lower risk features; despite these trends, patients are less likely now than a decade ago to undergo a trial of active surveillance. Rates of brachytherapy and hormonal therapy use, in particular, have risen markedly. Important progress has been made in recent years in prostate cancer risk assessment. These advances, in combination with biomarkers in later stages of development, should be expected in the coming years to yield further improvements in clinicians' ability to diagnose prostate cancer early, and guide appropriately selected patients toward increasingly tailored treatment.     

Hb Manukau [β67(E11)Val → Gly; HBB: c.203T>G]: The Role of Genetic Testing in the Diagnosis of Idiopathic Hemolytic Anemia

The increasing availability of DNA sequencing of globin genes has improved our ability to detect conditions that were presumed to be extremely rare. These conditions may remain undiagnosed due to unfamiliarity with clinical presentation, relative unavailability of advanced diagnostic alternatives, or may defy detection by being electrophoretically silent or extreme instability rendering their presence to be below detection level. Genetic studies were pursued in a mother and daughter with severe hemolytic anemia as initial testing failed to be diagnostic. DNA sequence analysis of the β-globin gene identified Hb Manukau [β67(E11)Val?→?Gly; HBB: c.203T?>?G], an extremely unstable hemoglobin (Hb) variant. This is the second family described with this condition (first in the western hemisphere). An astute clinician may benefit from being persistent and pursuing additional testing including molecular genetic characterization where clinical suspicion remains high.