27 research outputs found
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Risk factors for fatal and nonfatal repetition of suicide attempts: a literature review
Objectives: This review aimed to identify the evidence for predictors of repetition of suicide attempts, and more specifically for subsequent completed suicide. Methods: We conducted a literature search of PubMed and Embase between January 1, 1991 and December 31, 2009, and we excluded studies investigating only special populations (eg, male and female only, children and adolescents, elderly, a specific psychiatric disorder) and studies with sample size fewer than 50 patients. Results: The strongest predictor of a repeated attempt is a previous attempt, followed by being a victim of sexual abuse, poor global functioning, having a psychiatric disorder, being on psychiatric treatment, depression, anxiety, and alcohol abuse or dependence. For other variables examined (Caucasian ethnicity, having a criminal record, having any mood disorders, bad family environment, and impulsivity) there are indications for a putative correlation as well. For completed suicide, the strongest predictors are older age, suicide ideation, and history of suicide attempt. Living alone, male sex, and alcohol abuse are weakly predictive with a positive correlation (but sustained by very scarce data) for poor impulsivity and a somatic diagnosis. Conclusion: It is difficult to find predictors for repetition of nonfatal suicide attempts, and even more difficult to identify predictors of completed suicide. Suicide ideation and alcohol or substance abuse/dependence, which are, along with depression, the most consistent predictors for initial nonfatal attempt and suicide, are not consistently reported to be very strong predictors for nonfatal repetition
Experience of group conversations in rehabilitation medicine: methodological approach and pilot study
Ultrasonography of the shoulder: asymptomatic findings from working-age women in the general population
[Purpose] The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence of abnormal shoulder ultrasonographic findings in a sample of asymptomatic women. [Subjects and Methods] A secondary analysis of a cross-sectional study was performed. We recruited 305 women (aged 18–56 years). All the subjects had a structured interview screening for self-reported symptoms and underwent a shoulder ultrasonographic examination, in which both shoulders were examined. The radiologist was blinded to the clinical history of the participants. All detectable shoulder abnormalities were collected. [Results] Of the subjects, 228 (74.75%) were asymptomatic at both shoulders, and 456 asymptomatic shoulders were analyzed. Lack of uniformity (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and biceps brachii long head) was found in 28 shoulders (6.14%), 19 (4.17%) on the dominant side and 9 (1.97%) on the non-dominant side. Tendinosis (supraspinatus, infraspinatus, subscapularis, and biceps brachii long head) was found in 19 shoulders (5.32%), 12 (2.63%) on the dominant side and 7 (1.53%) on the non-dominant side. Calcification and other abnormal findings were reported. [Conclusion] The most common abnormalities were calcifications within the rotator-cuff tendons and humeral head geodes; other degenerative findings were less commo
Accidents at work among people with epilepsy Results of a European prospective cohort study
Summary Studies on accidents at work in people with epilepsy are scarce and the evidence that epilepsy carries an increased risk of accidents at work is mostly anecdotal. The present survey is a multicentre prospective cohort study of everyday life risks recently conducted in eight European countries (Estonia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia and United Kingdom) comparing referral children and adults with epilepsy to age-and sex-matched non-epileptic controls. In this context, every accident occurring during work over a 1-3 year follow-up was prospectively reported by patients and controls. Six hundred and thirty-one adult patients with epilepsy and 592 controls from this cohort have been studied here. Each patient and his/her control received a diary to record any accident or illness, with severity, circumstances, causes, consequences (including days off-work) and (for the cases) the possible relation to a seizure. A slightly higher number of unskilled workers were present among patients with epilepsy than in controls. Twenty-two patients with epilepsy and nine controls reported accidents during work ( p < 0.05). Only two cases reported seizure-related accidents. In both groups the injuries were mild (only one requiring hospitalization) and caused abstention from work to the same extent. In patients with epilepsy, the risk of accidents was unaffected by seizure type and frequency. This study confirms that patients with epilepsy are at higher risk of accidents compared to the general population. However, injuries provoked by work accidents are generally mild and unrelated to seizures
Accidents at work among people with epilepsy Results of a European prospective cohort study
SummaryStudies on accidents at work in people with epilepsy are scarce and the evidence that epilepsy carries an increased risk of accidents at work is mostly anecdotal. The present survey is a multicentre prospective cohort study of everyday life risks recently conducted in eight European countries (Estonia, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Russia, Slovenia and United Kingdom) comparing referral children and adults with epilepsy to age- and sex-matched non-epileptic controls. In this context, every accident occurring during work over a 1–3 year follow-up was prospectively reported by patients and controls.Six hundred and thirty-one adult patients with epilepsy and 592 controls from this cohort have been studied here. Each patient and his/her control received a diary to record any accident or illness, with severity, circumstances, causes, consequences (including days off-work) and (for the cases) the possible relation to a seizure. A slightly higher number of unskilled workers were present among patients with epilepsy than in controls.Twenty-two patients with epilepsy and nine controls reported accidents during work (p<0.05). Only two cases reported seizure-related accidents. In both groups the injuries were mild (only one requiring hospitalization) and caused abstention from work to the same extent. In patients with epilepsy, the risk of accidents was unaffected by seizure type and frequency. This study confirms that patients with epilepsy are at higher risk of accidents compared to the general population. However, injuries provoked by work accidents are generally mild and unrelated to seizures
Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures: so-called psychiatric comorbidity and underlying defense mechanisms
Conversation Analysis in the differential diagnosis of Italian patients with epileptic or psychogenic non-epileptic seizures: a blind prospective study
The differential diagnosis of epileptic seizures (ES) and psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) is often difficult. The diagnostic gold standard is video-EEG, but this procedure is limited because of its high cost and is not always available. Research groups from Germany and Britain have used conversation analysis (CA) of patients' descriptions of their seizures as a means of differentiating the type of seizure. The aim of this study was to verify the value of their considerations in relation to the Italian language. Ten subjects (five with ES and five with PNES) diagnosed by means of the video-EEG recording of one seizure were studied under blind conditions by a linguist. The patients with ES described their seizures in as much detail as possi- ble and tried to reconstruct the experience as fully as they can, making an effort to describe their subjective symptoms, quantify the duration of the phases preceding and following the seizure, and use the image of an external entity overcoming them. On the contrary, the patients with PNES repeated their extraneousness to the events that occur, refused to reply, expressed amnesia, reconstructed the happening by referring to de- scriptions provided by witnesses, and often describe their seizures using the image of an internal entity of which they were victims. The linguist correctly identified nine cases out of ten using CA
Spin of information and inconsistency between abstract and full text in RCTs investigating upper limb rehabilitation after stroke: An overview study
Researchers may be tempted to favorably distort the interpretation of their findings when reporting the abstract (i.e., spin). Spin bias overemphasizes the beneficial effects of the intervention compared with the results shown in the full text