Clinical and course indicators of bipolar disorder type I with and without opioid dependence

BACKGROUND: The existing evidence about the clinical situations of the bipolar patients with opioid dependence is scarce. The present study was carried out to compare the clinical features and course of the bipolar disorder type I regarding the two subgroups of opioid dependent and non-dependent. METHODS: There were 178 adult patients with bipolar disorder type I consecutively referred to the Iran Hospital of Psychiatry, Tehran, Iran, from January 2008 to January 2009 who enrolled in the study. The Persian Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV axis I disorders (SCID-I), HDRS-17, and Y-MRS were administered for all patients. Other clinical information was gathered through the face-to-face interviews with the probands and the hospital records. The T test, Chi square test and logistic regression were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The mean age of probands were 33.6 (± 11.1) years old and they were mostly male. Among the evaluated indices, the factors gender, anxiety disorders comorbidity, non-adherence, and positive family history were different significantly and independently from the other studied factors between opioid dependent and non-dependent bipolar patients. CONCLUSIONS: Despite some differences, the opioid dependent and non-dependent bipolar patients did not have any significant difference regarding most of the examined clinical and course indices

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy: A case control study

Background: Sleep apnea is temporary cessation or absence of breathing during sleep. Significant increase in blood pressure is clinically seen in apneic episodes. The aim of this study was to examine sleep apnea syndrome as a risk factor for non- arthritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy (NAION) in a case control study. Methods: Nineteen NAION patients (9 men and 10 women) and 31 age and sex matched control participants (18 men and 13 women) were evaluated for obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). Full night polysomnography was performed and proportion of OSAS was compared between the NAION patients and the control group. Other risk factors for NAION such as hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, ischemic heart disease and tobacco consumption were also evaluated. Chi square test and independent samples t-test were used for statistical analysis. Results: OF the 19 NAION patients, 18 (95) had OSAS, and of the control group 13 (41.9) had OSAS. The frequency of OSAS was significantly higher among NAION patients compared to the controls (p < 0.001). The Mean Respiratory Disturbance Index (RDI) was 37.65/h SD = 37.61/h in NAION patients and it was 15.05/h SD = 11.97/h (p = 0.018) in controls. The frequency of diabetes and hypertension was significantly higher in the NAION patients than in controls. Conclusion: based on the results of this study, it seems that there is an association between NAION and OSAS

Bipolar I disorder: a qualitative study of the viewpoints of the family members of patients on the nature of the disorder and pharmacological treatment non-adherence

Background: Bipolar disorder is a common psychiatric disorder with a massive psychological and social burden. Research indicates that treatment adherence is not good in these patients. The families� knowledge about the disorder is fundamental for managing their patients� disorder. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the knowledge of the family members of a sample of Iranian patients with bipolar I disorder (BD-I) and to explore the potential reasons for treatment non-adherence. Methods: This study was conducted by qualitative content analysis. In-depth interviews were held and open-coding inductive analysis was performed. A thematic content analysis was used for the qualitative data analysis. Results: The viewpoints of the family members of the patients were categorized in five themes, including knowledge about the disorder, information about the medications, information about the treatment and the respective role of the family, reasons for pharmacological treatment non-adherence, and strategies applied by families to enhance treatment adherence in the patients. The research findings showed that the family members did not have enough information about the nature of BD-I, which they attributed to their lack of training on the disorder. The families did not know what caused the recurrence of the disorder and did not have sufficient knowledge about its prescribed medications and treatments. Also, most families did not know about the etiology of the disorder. Conclusion: The lack of knowledge among the family members of patients with BD-I can have a significant impact on relapse and treatment non-adherence. These issues need to be further emphasized in the training of patients� families. The present findings can be used to re-design the guidelines and protocols in a way to improve treatment adherence and avoid the relapse of BD-I symptoms. © 2021, The Author(s)

Healthcare providers experience of working during the COVID-19 pandemic: A qualitative study

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a far-reaching negative impact on healthcare systems worldwide and has placed healthcare providers under immense physiological and psychological pressures. Objective: The aim of current study was to undertake an in-depth exploration of the experiences of health-care staff working during the COVID-19 crisis. Methods: Using a thematic analysis approach, a qualitative study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 97 health care professionals. Participants were health care professionals including pre-hospital emergency services (EMS), physicians, nurses, pharmacists, laboratory personnel, radiology technicians, hospital managers and managers in the ministry of health who work directly or indirectly with COVID-19 cases. Results: Data analysis highlighted four main themes, namely: �Working in the pandemic era�, �Changes in personal life and enhanced negative affect�, �Gaining experience, normalization and adaptation to the pandemic� and �Mental Health Considerations� which indicated that mental ill deteriorations unfolded through a stage-wise process as the pandemic unfolded. Conclusions: Participants experienced a wide range of emotions and development during the unfolding of the pandemic. Providing mental health aid should thus be an essential part of services for healthcare providers during the pandemic. Based on our results the aid should be focused on the various stages and should be individual-centred. Such interventions are crucial to sustain workers in their ability to cope throughout the duration of the pandemic. © 2020 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc

Advanced paternal age effects in neurodevelopmental disorders?review of potential underlying mechanisms

Multiple epidemiological studies suggest a relationship between advanced paternal age (APA) at conception and adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes in offspring, particularly with regard to increased risk for autism and schizophrenia. Conclusive evidence about how age-related changes in paternal gametes, or age-independent behavioral traits affect neural development is still lacking. Recent evidence suggests that the origins of APA effects are likely to be multidimensional, involving both inherited predisposition and de novo events. Here we provide a review of the epidemiological and molecular findings to date. Focusing on the latter, we present the evidence for genetic and epigenetic mechanisms underpinning the association between late fatherhood and disorder in offspring. We also discuss the limitations of the APA literature. We propose that different hypotheses relating to the origins of the APA effects are not mutually exclusive. Instead, multiple mechanisms likely contribute, reflecting the etiological complexity of neurodevelopmental disorders

Estimating global injuries morbidity and mortality: methods and data used in the Global Burden of Disease 2017 study

BACKGROUND: While there is a long history of measuring death and disability from injuries, modern research methods must account for the wide spectrum of disability that can occur in an injury, and must provide estimates with sufficient demographic, geographical and temporal detail to be useful for policy makers. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 study used methods to provide highly detailed estimates of global injury burden that meet these criteria. METHODS: In this study, we report and discuss the methods used in GBD 2017 for injury morbidity and mortality burden estimation. In summary, these methods included estimating cause-specific mortality for every cause of injury, and then estimating incidence for every cause of injury. Non-fatal disability for each cause is then calculated based on the probabilities of suffering from different types of bodily injury experienced. RESULTS: GBD 2017 produced morbidity and mortality estimates for 38 causes of injury. Estimates were produced in terms of incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, cause-specific mortality, years of life lost and disability-adjusted life-years for a 28-year period for 22 age groups, 195 countries and both sexes. CONCLUSIONS: GBD 2017 demonstrated a complex and sophisticated series of analytical steps using the largest known database of morbidity and mortality data on injuries. GBD 2017 results should be used to help inform injury prevention policy making and resource allocation. We also identify important avenues for improving injury burden estimation in the future

Five insights from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 provides a rules-based synthesis of the available evidence on levels and trends in health outcomes, a diverse set of risk factors, and health system responses. GBD 2019 covered 204 countries and territories, as well as first administrative level disaggregations for 22 countries, from 1990 to 2019. Because GBD is highly standardised and comprehensive, spanning both fatal and non-fatal outcomes, and uses a mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive list of hierarchical disease and injury causes, the study provides a powerful basis for detailed and broad insights on global health trends and emerging challenges. GBD 2019 incorporates data from 281 586 sources and provides more than 3.5 billion estimates of health outcome and health system measures of interest for global, national, and subnational policy dialogue. All GBD estimates are publicly available and adhere to the Guidelines on Accurate and Transparent Health Estimate Reporting. From this vast amount of information, five key insights that are important for health, social, and economic development strategies have been distilled. These insights are subject to the many limitations outlined in each of the component GBD capstone papers.Peer reviewe

Estimating global injuries morbidity and mortality : methods and data used in the Global Burden of Disease 2017 study

Background: While there is a long history of measuring death and disability from injuries, modern research methods must account for the wide spectrum of disability that can occur in an injury, and must provide estimates with sufficient demographic, geographical and temporal detail to be useful for policy makers. The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017 study used methods to provide highly detailed estimates of global injury burden that meet these criteria. Methods: In this study, we report and discuss the methods used in GBD 2017 for injury morbidity and mortality burden estimation. In summary, these methods included estimating cause-specific mortality for every cause of injury, and then estimating incidence for every cause of injury. Non-fatal disability for each cause is then calculated based on the probabilities of suffering from different types of bodily injury experienced. Results: GBD 2017 produced morbidity and mortality estimates for 38 causes of injury. Estimates were produced in terms of incidence, prevalence, years lived with disability, cause-specific mortality, years of life lost and disability-adjusted life-years for a 28-year period for 22 age groups, 195 countries and both sexes. Conclusions: GBD 2017 demonstrated a complex and sophisticated series of analytical steps using the largest known database of morbidity and mortality data on injuries. GBD 2017 results should be used to help inform injury prevention policy making and resource allocation. We also identify important avenues for improving injury burden estimation in the future

Global age-sex-specific fertility, mortality, healthy life expectancy (HALE), and population estimates in 204 countries and territories, 1950-2019 : a comprehensive demographic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019

Background: Accurate and up-to-date assessment of demographic metrics is crucial for understanding a wide range of social, economic, and public health issues that affect populations worldwide. The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2019 produced updated and comprehensive demographic assessments of the key indicators of fertility, mortality, migration, and population for 204 countries and territories and selected subnational locations from 1950 to 2019. Methods: 8078 country-years of vital registration and sample registration data, 938 surveys, 349 censuses, and 238 other sources were identified and used to estimate age-specific fertility. Spatiotemporal Gaussian process regression (ST-GPR) was used to generate age-specific fertility rates for 5-year age groups between ages 15 and 49 years. With extensions to age groups 10–14 and 50–54 years, the total fertility rate (TFR) was then aggregated using the estimated age-specific fertility between ages 10 and 54 years. 7417 sources were used for under-5 mortality estimation and 7355 for adult mortality. ST-GPR was used to synthesise data sources after correction for known biases. Adult mortality was measured as the probability of death between ages 15 and 60 years based on vital registration, sample registration, and sibling histories, and was also estimated using ST-GPR. HIV-free life tables were then estimated using estimates of under-5 and adult mortality rates using a relational model life table system created for GBD, which closely tracks observed age-specific mortality rates from complete vital registration when available. Independent estimates of HIV-specific mortality generated by an epidemiological analysis of HIV prevalence surveys and antenatal clinic serosurveillance and other sources were incorporated into the estimates in countries with large epidemics. Annual and single-year age estimates of net migration and population for each country and territory were generated using a Bayesian hierarchical cohort component model that analysed estimated age-specific fertility and mortality rates along with 1250 censuses and 747 population registry years. We classified location-years into seven categories on the basis of the natural rate of increase in population (calculated by subtracting the crude death rate from the crude birth rate) and the net migration rate. We computed healthy life expectancy (HALE) using years lived with disability (YLDs) per capita, life tables, and standard demographic methods. Uncertainty was propagated throughout the demographic estimation process, including fertility, mortality, and population, with 1000 draw-level estimates produced for each metric. Findings: The global TFR decreased from 2·72 (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 2·66–2·79) in 2000 to 2·31 (2·17–2·46) in 2019. Global annual livebirths increased from 134·5 million (131·5–137·8) in 2000 to a peak of 139·6 million (133·0–146·9) in 2016. Global livebirths then declined to 135·3 million (127·2–144·1) in 2019. Of the 204 countries and territories included in this study, in 2019, 102 had a TFR lower than 2·1, which is considered a good approximation of replacement-level fertility. All countries in sub-Saharan Africa had TFRs above replacement level in 2019 and accounted for 27·1% (95% UI 26·4–27·8) of global livebirths. Global life expectancy at birth increased from 67·2 years (95% UI 66·8–67·6) in 2000 to 73·5 years (72·8–74·3) in 2019. The total number of deaths increased from 50·7 million (49·5–51·9) in 2000 to 56·5 million (53·7–59·2) in 2019. Under-5 deaths declined from 9·6 million (9·1–10·3) in 2000 to 5·0 million (4·3–6·0) in 2019. Global population increased by 25·7%, from 6·2 billion (6·0–6·3) in 2000 to 7·7 billion (7·5–8·0) in 2019. In 2019, 34 countries had negative natural rates of increase; in 17 of these, the population declined because immigration was not sufficient to counteract the negative rate of decline. Globally, HALE increased from 58·6 years (56·1–60·8) in 2000 to 63·5 years (60·8–66·1) in 2019. HALE increased in 202 of 204 countries and territories between 2000 and 2019