Well-being (quality of life) in connection with hypertensive treatment

Quality of life is often considered to equate how the medical treatment is subjectively perceived by the patient, but ought to include the total impact of the disease/treatment on the patient's emotional, physical, and social well-being. Recently, a proposal for a generally applicable definition of quality of life in health care was put forward. This definition includes general well-being, health, and welfare (external factors), as three fundamental components, and the definition is based on both objective and subjective judgments. General well-being is exclusively and expression of the individual's subjective experience and is based on his or her own qualitative evaluation of well-being in relation to condition, treatments, and experiences. Health is according to the proposed definition, judged both objectively (signs) and subjectively (symptoms). Apart from health and well-being, there is also reason to include objectively registrable factors at the welfare level (external factors) such as the consumption of medicines, number of days in hospital, length of sick leave, need of in-home care, etc. This review is an attempt to elucidate the effects of antihypertensive pharmacotherapy on the patient's general well-being. The topic will be discussed from several points of views (e.g., aims of antihypertensive treatment, occurrence of symptoms in the population, compliance with prescribed treatment, symptom inventories, the concept of quality of life.     

主观症状及实验检查诊断早期干眼症

目的 分析主观症状及实验检查对早期干眼症患者诊断的意义。方法 对55例（109眼）已确诊的早期干眼症患者（无或仅伴有轻微体征）的临床症状及实验检查进行回顾性分析及比较。结果 患者中主观症状所占比率：干涩感94％，视疲劳感82％，异物感74％，明显高于其他症状（P〈0．05）。实验检查的阳性率：基础泪液分泌试验（Schirmer I test，SIt）35％，泪膜破裂时间检查（break-up time，BUT）85％，角结膜荧光素（fluorescent，FL）染色60％，其中BUT阳性率明显高于SIt和FL（P〈0．05）。结论 主观症状及实验检查可为早期干眼症诊断提供有利依据。     

Health-related quality of life under six months' treatment of migraine—an open clinic-based longitudinal study

Health-related quality of life (HQL) assessment in the clinical setting have distinguished subjective perceptions (e.g. well-being), signssymptoms of the disease, and functional capacity as three major components. The impact of short-term treatment for migraine attacks on these variables was evaluated in an open prospective 6-month study at the Gothenburg Migraine Clinic. Socio-economic factors, subjective symptoms, and general well-beingquality of life were evaluated by self-administered questionnaires in 99 patients with migraine with or without aura in accordance with the classification of the International Headache Society. Short-term treatment comprising conventional therapy or subcutaneous sumatriptan reduced number of days per month with migraine and absenteeism from work, migraine-associated symptoms, but did not significantly improve general well-being between attacks. Future assessment of the patients' HQL in accordance with this approach would enable us to consider all the advantages and disadvantages of current therapies of particular interest in the field of migraine.     

The meaning of good sleep: a longitudinal study of polysomnography and subjective sleep quality

SUMMARY  The present study sought to investigate the meaning of subjectively good sleep, using a longitudinal and intraindividual design. Eight subjects slept in an isolation unit according to an irregular schedule of 6h sleeps and 1h naps, designed to give normal amounts of time in bed (1/3 of total), but variable sleep quality. Eight sleeps and eight naps were used for longitudinal simple and multiple regression analyses with standard polysomnographical sleep variables as predictors and subjective sleep quality as dependent variables. The results showed that subjective sleep quality (and related variables) was closely related to sleep efficiency, but not sleep stages. At least 87% efficiency was required for ratings of 'rather good' sleep. In addition, sleep quality ratings improved with closeness (of the awakening) to the circadian acrophase (17.00–21.00 hours) of the rectal temperature rhythm. The subjective ease of awakening differed from most other other variables in that it was related to low sleep efficiency. Objective and subjective homologues of sleep length and sleep latency showed high mean intraindividual correlations ( r = 0.55 and 0.64, respectively). It was concluded that objective measures of sleep continuity were closely reflected in perceived sleep quality and that sleep quality essentially means sleep continuity.     

Are subjective health complaints a result of modern civilization?

Subjective health complaints without or with minimal somatic findings (pain, fatigue) are common and frequent reasons for encounter with the general practitioner and for long-term sickness leave and disability. The complaints are often attributed to the stressors of modern life. Is this true? We interviewed 120 Aborigine Mangyans (native population, M age = 33.5 years, 72.5% women) living under primitive conditions in the jungle of Mindoro, an island in the Philippines, and 101 persons living in a small coastal town on the same island (coastal population, M age = 33.8 years, 60.4% women). Both groups had more musculoskeletal complaints, fatigue, mood changes, and gastrointestinal complaints than a representative sample from the Norwegian population (N = 1,243). Our common subjective health complaints, therefore, are not specific for industrialized societies.     

Thermal pleasantness sensation: an indicator of thermal stress

Summary The degree of pleasantness or unpleasantness of thermal sensation aroused by a particular peripheral thermal stimulus has been shown to be an indicator of thermal state of the body in relation to the thermoregulatory set point. This phenomenon is known as thermal alliesthesia. The quantification of thermal alliesthesia was possible using two methods: (1) A set of temperature stimuli (15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 38 C) was applied, by means of a Peltier thermode 5.5×2.7 cm², on the back of the hand, the forehead, and the back of the neck. When each stimulus had been applied for 5 s the subjects voted their degree of thermal pleasantness/unpleasantness on a psychophysical scale ranging from +2.0 for very pleasant to –2.0 for very unpleasant. (2) The subjects were also asked to adjust the Peltier thermode temperature, without looking at the temperature scale, such that the temperature (on the back of the neck) was maintained at the level the subjects considered most pleasant. The subjects also rated their general thermal comfort sensation on a five point scale ranging from +2.0 for very comfortable to –2.0 for very uncomfortable. Rectal temperature and skin temperature at eight locations were continuously recorded. Passive thermal exposures (54) were made with nine passive subjects and 42 exposures were done with working (50 watt) subjects. All exposures were carried out in a climatic chamber at a constant temperature, relative humidity (45%), and air speed (0.3 m/s). Each subject underwent 6 exposures at six room temperatures of 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 C. The results of work exposures confirmed the findings of previous studies; namely, the effect of core temperature change overrides any effect due to mean skin temperature on alliesthesial response. A mathematical function to predict the mean slope of the thermal pleasantness rating/stimulus line (a measure of the alliesthesial response) was derived using the data obtained from the passive thermal exposures. The results indicate that alliesthesial response can be used as a quantitative indicator of thermal stress.Supported by the European Coal and Steel Community, Luxembourg     

家庭社会经济地位对青少年主观幸福感影响的多重中介效应分析

目的:探讨家庭社会经济地位与青少年主观幸福感的关系及领悟社会支持和积极心理资本的中介作用。方法:采用家庭社会经济地位问卷、幸福感指数量表、领悟社会支持量表和积极心理资本问卷调查了932名青少年。结果:(1)家庭社会经济地位、领悟社会支持、积极心理资本和主观幸福感两两之间相关显著;(2)家庭社会经济地位对主观幸福感的直接效应不显著,但领悟社会支持、积极心理资本在家庭社会经济地位与主观幸福感之间的三条中介路径均显著。结论:为提升低家庭社会经济地位青少年主观幸福感,改善其领悟社会支持和积极心理资本水平是可实现的有效路径。     

大学生自我表露及其与主观幸福感的关系

目的:探讨大学生自我表露、主观幸福感现况及二者的关系.方法:根据浙江大学164名学生的问卷调查结果对Jourard SM自我表露问卷进行修订,用修订的自我表露问卷和幸福感指数量表对浙江大学的356名学生进行问卷调查.结果:不同信息类别的自我表露评分差异显著(F=50.24,P＜0.001),其中品味和兴趣(1.85±0.41)、学习(工作)(1.87±0.43)的自我表露评分均高于态度和看法(1.70±0.32)(t=7.870、8.256)、金钱(1.60±0.41,t=10.517、11.429)、个性(1.70±0.39)、身体(1.71±0.42)(P均＜0.001).目标人的主效应显著(有男/女朋友者、无男/女朋友者的自我表露问卷评分差异均有显著性,F=21.14、13.88,P＜0.001),信息类别和目标人的交互作用显著(F=76.15,P＜0.001).在金钱、身体、学习或工作方面大学生向父母表露多于向男、女性朋友(如金钱上:母亲1.81±0.59、父亲1.73±0.58,男朋友1.42±0.44,女朋友1.40±0.44;F=116.84,P=0.000).女性的表露程度高于男性(1.79±0.31/1.71±0.32,t=2.03,P=0.044).自我表露与主观幸福感呈正相关(r=0.16,P=0.003).分层回归显示自我表露对预测主观幸福感作出了新的贡献(△R2=0.021,P=0.006).结论:信息类别、目标人、被试性别会影响自我表露的程度,提升表露水平有助于改善主观幸福感.     

Combining clinical judgement and statistical data in expert systems: Over-the-telephone management decisions for critical congenital heart disease in the first month of life

When a new-born baby with congenital heart disease is referred to a regional specialist centre, the transportation management is crucial but must be decided on the basis of clinical information obtained over the telephone. We consider algorithmic and naive statistical approaches to helping in this decision, and on the basis of preliminary results the relative strengths and weaknesses are discussed. A synthesised logical and probabilistic approach appears to have the best potential and could be implemented on hand-held computers.Paper presented at symposium on Computer-assisted Decision Support and Database Management in Anaesthesia, Intensive Care and Cardio-pulmonary Medicine, Rotterdam, 1988.