Insight dimensions and cognitive function in psychosis: a longitudinal study

BACKGROUND: It has been reported that lack of insight is significantly associated with cognitive disturbance in schizophrenia. This study examines the longitudinal relationships between insight dimensions and cognitive performance in psychosis. METHODS: Participants were 75 consecutively admitted inpatients with schizophrenia, affective disorder with psychotic symptoms or schizoaffective disorder. Assessments were conducted at two time points during the study: at the time of hospital discharge after an acute psychotic episode and at a follow-up time that occurred more than 6 months after discharge. A multidimensional approach of insight was chosen and three instruments for its assessment were used: the Scale to Assess Unawareness of Mental Disorder (SUMD), three items concerning insight on the Assessment and Documentation in Psychopathology (AMDP) system and the Insight and Treatment Attitudes Questionnaire. The neuropsychological battery included a wide range of tests that assessed global cognitive function, attention, memory, and executive functions. RESULTS: After conducting adequate statistical correction to avoid Type I bias, insight dimensions and cognitive performance were not found to be significantly associated at cross-sectional and longitudinal assessments. In addition, baseline cognitive performance did not explain changes in insight dimensions at follow-up. Similar results were found in the subset of patients with schizophrenia (n = 37). The possibility of a Type II error might have increased due to sample attrition at follow-up. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that lack of insight dimensions and cognitive functioning may be unrelated phenomena in psychosis

A population-based study of the behavioral and emotional adjustment of older siblings of children with and without intellectual disability

This is the first study on the behavioral and emotional adjustment of siblings of children with intellectual disabilities (ID) to use a population-based sample, from the third wave of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS); a UK longitudinal birth cohort study. We examined differences between nearest-in-age older siblings (age 5–15) of MCS children (likely mainly with mild to moderate ID) identified with ID (n = 257 siblings) or not (n = 7246 siblings). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) measured all children’s adjustment. For SDQ total problems, 13.9% of siblings of children with ID and 8.9% of siblings of children without had elevated scores (OR 1.65; 95% CI 1.04, 2.62; p = 0.031). Similar group differences were found for SDQ peer and conduct problems. In logistic regression models, variables consistently associated with older sibling adjustment were: adjustment of the MCS cohort child, older sibling being male, family socio-economic position, primary carer psychological distress, and being from a single parent household. The ID grouping variable was no longer associated with adjustment for all SDQ domains, except siblings of children with ID were less likely to be identified as hyperactive (OR 0.30; 95% CI 0.10, 0.87; p = 0.027). Some older siblings of children with ID may be at additional risk for behavioral and emotional problems. Group differences were related mainly to social and family contextual factors. Future longitudinal research should address developmental pathways by which children with ID may affect sibling adjustment

The measurement of outcome in the treatment of epilepsy

Seizure frequency has until recently been the usual measure of efficacy of epilepsy treatment. The aims of this thesis were to develop and implement two new outcome measures of epilepsy therapy. A new seizure severity scale and a measure of the handicap associated with epilepsy were designed and evaluated. The psychosocial burden of epilepsy was assessed in an unselected population using the new measure of handicap. The benefits of epilepsy surgery and programs of comprehensive epilepsy assessment were investigated in patients with intractable seizures. The new seizure severity scale was found to be reliable and to have construct validity. It is now in use in international antiepileptic drug trials. The Subjective Handicap of Epilepsy scale (SHE) was found to be a reliable and valid measure of the impact of epilepsy on the life of an individual with epilepsy. In a unselected community-based sample of persons with epilepsy, the severity of subjective handicap was related to seizure frequency and to the duration of remission of epilepsy. A third of persons with active epilepsy were found to be significantly handicapped by their condition. Between a third and a half of subjects had psychiatric symptoms. Scores on a measure of general health indicated that active seizures and drug treatment both had detrimental effects on well-being. In a longitudinal observational study, significant improvements in seizure control, subjective handicap, quality of life and psychiatric status were seen in 42 surgically treated patients compared with 82 subjects assessed for surgery but not operated upon. Compared with control groups, 67 patients who underwent a program of comprehensive assessment improved on some measures of quality of life and handicap. Remission of seizures had a primary role in achieving a major reduction in handicap and gains in quality of life

Risk-taking behavior of schizophrenics and normals

Thesis (Ph.D)--Boston University.The aims of this study were: (1) to test whether hypotheses regarding the behavior of schizophrenics which had received support in level of aspiration studies would also be supported by decision theory type chance taking measures; and (2) to examine the kinds of risks toward which schizophrenics were most sensitive. Two theoretical models, decision theory and level of aspiration theory, dealing with decision making in situations involving the threat of failure, were shown to be basically similar in their formulation; they differed, however, in regard to the independence of probability and reward, and the degree of the individual's control over the outcome and the motive of achievement. "Risk," which was considered to be the objective equivalent of the clinical concept "threat of failure," was defined operationally as the negative term of the expected value model (i.e., as the product of the probability of loss and the amount of possible loss). [TRUNCATED

A Population-Based Study of the Behavioral and Emotional Adjustment of Older Siblings of Children with and without Intellectual Disability

This is the first study on the behavioral and emotional adjustment of siblings of children with intellectual disabilities (ID) to use a population-based sample, from the third wave of the Millennium Cohort Study (MCS); a UK longitudinal birth cohort study. We examined differences between nearest-in-age older siblings (age 5-15) of MCS children (likely mainly with mild to moderate ID) identified with ID (n = 257 siblings) or not (n = 7246 siblings). The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) measured all children's adjustment. For SDQ total problems, 13.9% of siblings of children with ID and 8.9% of siblings of children without had elevated scores (OR 1.65; 95% CI 1.04, 2.62; p = 0.031). Similar group differences were found for SDQ peer and conduct problems. In logistic regression models, variables consistently associated with older sibling adjustment were: adjustment of the MCS cohort child, older sibling being male, family socio-economic position, primary carer psychological distress, and being from a single parent household. The ID grouping variable was no longer associated with adjustment for all SDQ domains, except siblings of children with ID were less likely to be identified as hyperactive (OR 0.30; 95% CI 0.10, 0.87; p = 0.027). Some older siblings of children with ID may be at additional risk for behavioral and emotional problems. Group differences were related mainly to social and family contextual factors. Future longitudinal research should address developmental pathways by which children with ID may affect sibling adjustment

The impact of delirium on cognitive outcomes in population-based studies

Acute hospitals have seen unprecedented demographic changes, where older age, frailty and cognitive impairment now characterise the majority of health service users. Delirium is very common in this setting, and adverse outcomes are well described. However, studies investigating cognitive outcomes after delirium in unselected samples have been lacking. This thesis had four objectives: (1) To estimate the prevalence of delirium in the general population (2) To assess the association of delirium with cognitive outcomes (3) To investigate how these associations relate to underlying dementia pathology (4) To develop novel methods for retrospectively ascertaining delirium. Methods: Data from three population-based neuropathology cohort studies were used: Vantaa 85+; Cambridge City over-75s Cohort (CC75C); MRC Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (CFAS). (1) To ascertain the prevalence of delirium in the general population, a measure of delirium was developed using data recorded in standardised interview schedules, with criterion validity evaluated through the association with mortality and dementia risk. (2) The association with cognitive outcomes was tested in a series of logistic regression models, where delirium was the exposure and dementia (or worsening dementia severity) was the outcome. In addition, the association with change in Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score was assessed using random-effects linear regression. (3) In brain donors from all three cohorts, the independent effects of delirium, dementia pathology, and their interaction, were investigated using the same approach. (4) A chart-based method for deriving a retrospective diagnosis for delirium was developed, validated against bedside psychiatrist diagnosis. Vignettes from the medical record were abstracted and delirium status decided by expert consensus panel. Results: (1) Age-specific prevalence in CFAS increased with age from 1.8% in the 65-69 year age group to 13.5% in the ≥90 age group (p<0.01 for trend). (2) Delirium was consistently associated with adverse cognitive outcomes: new dementia (OR 8.7, 95% CI 2.1 to 35); worsening dementia severity (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.5 to 6.3); faster change in Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score (1.0 additional points/year, p<0.01) (3) In the neuropathology analyses, decline attributable to delirium was -0.37 MMSE points/year (p<0.01). Decline attributable to dementia pathology was -0.39 MMSE points/year (p<0.01). However, the combination of delirium and dementia pathology resulted in the greatest decline, where the interaction contributed a further -0.16 MMSE points/year (p=0.01), suggesting that delirium worsened cognitive trajectories in dementia, but through distinct pathophysiological pathways not accounted for by Alzheimer’s, vascular or Lewy body pathology. (4) The chart abstraction method yielded a sensitivity of 0.88 and specificity 0.75 for ‘possible delirium’, with lower sensitivity (0.58) and higher specificity (0.93) for ‘probable delirium’ (AUC 0.86, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.89). This thesis adds to the small body of work on delirium in prospective studies, with the first ever analyses conducted in whole populations. The findings suggest new possibilities regarding the pathology of cognitive impairment, positioning delirium and/or its precipitants as a critically inter-related mechanism.This work was supported by the Wellcome Trust (grant number WT090661)

The impact of delirium on cognitive outcomes in population-based studies

Acute hospitals have seen unprecedented demographic changes, where older age, frailty and cognitive impairment now characterise the majority of health service users. Delirium is very common in this setting, and adverse outcomes are well described. However, studies investigating cognitive outcomes after delirium in unselected samples have been lacking. This thesis had four objectives: (1) To estimate the prevalence of delirium in the general population (2) To assess the association of delirium with cognitive outcomes (3) To investigate how these associations relate to underlying dementia pathology (4) To develop novel methods for retrospectively ascertaining delirium. Methods: Data from three population-based neuropathology cohort studies were used: Vantaa 85+; Cambridge City over-75s Cohort (CC75C); MRC Cognitive Function and Ageing Study (CFAS). (1) To ascertain the prevalence of delirium in the general population, a measure of delirium was developed using data recorded in standardised interview schedules, with criterion validity evaluated through the association with mortality and dementia risk. (2) The association with cognitive outcomes was tested in a series of logistic regression models, where delirium was the exposure and dementia (or worsening dementia severity) was the outcome. In addition, the association with change in Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score was assessed using random-effects linear regression. (3) In brain donors from all three cohorts, the independent effects of delirium, dementia pathology, and their interaction, were investigated using the same approach. (4) A chart-based method for deriving a retrospective diagnosis for delirium was developed, validated against bedside psychiatrist diagnosis. Vignettes from the medical record were abstracted and delirium status decided by expert consensus panel. Results: (1) Age-specific prevalence in CFAS increased with age from 1.8% in the 65-69 year age group to 13.5% in the ≥90 age group (p<0.01 for trend). (2) Delirium was consistently associated with adverse cognitive outcomes: new dementia (OR 8.7, 95% CI 2.1 to 35); worsening dementia severity (OR 3.1, 95% CI 1.5 to 6.3); faster change in Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score (1.0 additional points/year, p<0.01) (3) In the neuropathology analyses, decline attributable to delirium was -0.37 MMSE points/year (p<0.01). Decline attributable to dementia pathology was -0.39 MMSE points/year (p<0.01). However, the combination of delirium and dementia pathology resulted in the greatest decline, where the interaction contributed a further -0.16 MMSE points/year (p=0.01), suggesting that delirium worsened cognitive trajectories in dementia, but through distinct pathophysiological pathways not accounted for by Alzheimer’s, vascular or Lewy body pathology. (4) The chart abstraction method yielded a sensitivity of 0.88 and specificity 0.75 for ‘possible delirium’, with lower sensitivity (0.58) and higher specificity (0.93) for ‘probable delirium’ (AUC 0.86, 95% CI 0.82 to 0.89). This thesis adds to the small body of work on delirium in prospective studies, with the first ever analyses conducted in whole populations. The findings suggest new possibilities regarding the pathology of cognitive impairment, positioning delirium and/or its precipitants as a critically inter-related mechanism

The relationship between sleep and daytime behaviour in children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

This volume includes three chapters, the first of which is a systematic literature review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of insomnia in clinical and non-clinical populations of children and adolescents. The second chapter is an empirical paper exploring the relationship between sleep problems and daytime challenging behaviour in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. The final chapter is a document summarising chapters one and two for the purpose of public dissemination

An investigation of Bibring's theory of depression

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston UniversityThis study represents an attempt to investigate the nature of depressive psychopathology within the context of psychoanalytic theory. It poses two major research questions: can depressed patients be differentiated on the basis of particular ego states according to Bibring's theory; and will such a classification system be useful clinically and theoretically