Health-related quality of life in Taiwanese patients with bronchial asthma.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is primarily an assessment of how domains of life are affected by health. This study investigated the factors influencing HRQOL of Taiwanese patients with bronchial asthma. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the factors influencing HRQOL. The sample consisted of 242 outpatients with bronchial asthma. The Chinese language version of the St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire was used to measure HRQOL. Data were analyzed using simple regression and multiple regression. RESULTS: Age, marital status, level of education, asthma severity, peak expiratory flow, and previous hospital admissions were found to be predictors of HRQOL. Gender, duration of disease, and history of emergency visits were not correlated with HRQOL. The variables entered in the HRQOL model accounted for 17.4% of the total variance (adjusted R(2)). The regression coefficients indicated that the mean scores increased 7.68 in patients with moderate to severe disease severity, and increased 7.34 in patients with a history of hospital admissions. The mean scores decreased 7.60 in married patients. CONCLUSION: This study found that marital status, asthma severity, and history of hospital admissions were major predictors of HRQOL in Taiwanese patients with bronchial asthma.     

The dental management of patients with bipolar disorder

Bipolar disorder (manic depressive disease) affects 1% of the United States population. These persons suffer from prolonged episodes of extreme elation and depression. There is a significant incidence of dental pathosis and a need for dental care among these patients. The medications used for the treatment of this disease, their physiologic effects, and their interactions with the drugs used in dentistry are reviewed.     

Bone disease in primary biliary cirrhosis: Lack of association with distal renal tubular acidosis

Background and Aims: Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) might be complicated by osteoporosis, whose etiology remains unknown but seems to be multifactorial. Prevalence rates of 30% to 60% for distal renal tubular acidosis (DRTA) have been reported in PBC patients, generally as incomplete DRTA. Although it is undisputed that a reduced bone mineral density (BMD) is the expected outcome among patients who have been suffering from longstanding chronic metabolic acidosis, it is unclear if incomplete DRTA is also associated with metabolic bone disease in PBC patients. The present study was undertaken to compare the BMD of PBC patients with and without DRTA.
Methods: The BMD of 23 PBC patients (11 with DRTA and 12 without), all with normal clearance of creatinine, was assessed by dual energy radiograph absorptiometry. The diagnosis of DRTA was made if the urine pH was above 5.4 in all samples after the oral acid overload, showing tubular inability to acidify urine in the presence of test-induced systemic metabolic acidosis.
Results: Densitometric signs of osteoporosis were found in 82% of DRTA cases and in 83% of patients without DRTA (difference not significant). There were no significant differences in BMD measurement, T and Z scores of patients with and without DRTA.
Conclusions: The present study could not support a correlation between the presence of DRTA and the bone loss observed in PBC patients.