Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

A C Leon

Publications and source records attributed to A C Leon.

At least 109 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Cardiovascular morbidity in high-risk patients during ECT.

OBJECTIVE: Cardiovascular events are the principal cause of medical morbidity in patients receiving ECT. To assess the risks of ECT for individuals with preexisting cardiovascular disease, the authors examined medical complications in older patients treated with ECT during a 1-year period. METHOD: A case-control design was used in a review of the charts of 80 consecutive patients who received ECT from August 1990 to August 1991. On the basis of accepted clinical criteria, patients over 50 years of age were divided into two groups: one at increased risk for cardiac complications (N = 26) and one at standard cardiac risk (N = 27). Outcome was measured with a scale designed to assess clinically relevant medical complications. RESULTS: The risk group was older and had received more medical consultations before ECT than the nonrisk group. Although patients in the risk group were more likely to develop minor complications during ECT, they did not differ significantly from the comparison group in the rate of major complications. No patients died or sustained permanent cardiac morbidity during ECT. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to a similar study at the same site 15 years earlier, the current study found ECT to be relatively safe in an unselected study group of elderly patients with preexisting cardiac risk factors. The findings underscore the advances in ECT technique over the past 15 years and the importance of identifying and carefully managing patients with cardiac risk factors before and during ECT.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Increase in fatal suicidal poisonings and suffocations in the year Final Exit was published: a national study.

Final Exit was a best-selling book that recommended poisoning and suffocation by plastic bag as lethal means of suicide for those with terminal medical illnesses. The authors sought to determine whether the number of suicides involving these methods increased in the United States in 1991, the year the book was published, compared with 1990. Suicidal asphyxiations involving a plastic bag increased 30.8%, from 334 to 437, and poisonings increased 5.4%, from 3,143 to 3,314. There was no change in the number of suicides involving each of the other methods or in the total number of suicides between 1990 and 1991. These ecological data support, but cannot conclusively prove, the hypothesis that Final Exit influenced the choice of lethal means of suicidal individuals.

Asphyxia↗
PubMed1994

Clinical correlates of self-mutilation in borderline personality disorder.

OBJECTIVE: This exploratory study sought demographic and clinical correlates of self-mutilation (self-injury without suicidal intent) in borderline personality disorder. METHOD: Among 124 consecutively admitted inpatients with borderline personality disorder, there were 62 who did not mutilate themselves, 23 who mutilated themselves infrequently (fewer than five lifetime events), and 39 who mutilated themselves frequently (five or more lifetime events); each received ratings on numerous measures of psychopathology. RESULTS: Compared to nonmutilators, frequent mutilators were significantly more likely to be in outpatient treatment at the time of admission and had more weeks of prior outpatient and inpatient treatment; they were also more likely to receive comorbid diagnoses of current major depression, anorexia nervosa, and bulimia nervosa. Frequent mutilators had significantly higher group means on the Beck Scale for Suicidal Ideation, were more likely to have attempted suicide, and were more likely to have attempted suicide more often than both infrequent mutilators and nonmutilators. The adjusted odds ratios from logistic regression analyses demonstrated that major depression, bulimia nervosa, number of prior suicide attempts, and acute suicidal ideation were each associated with greater risk of frequent mutilation. CONCLUSIONS: Borderline patients who frequently mutilate themselves may represent a subgroup of especially high utilizers of psychiatric treatment who are at particularly high risk for suicidal behavior and for comorbid major depression and eating disorders. Clinicians should consider aggressive treatment of comorbid axis I disorders and careful assessment of suicide risk in these patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

An empirical study of defense mechanisms in dysthymia.

OBJECTIVE: The psychodynamic approach to understanding dysthymia has rarely been empirically tested. In this pilot study the Defense Mechanism Rating Scales were used to examine psychodynamic data from patients with dysthymia and patients with panic disorder in order to test the hypotheses that 1) dysthymic patients would be similar to panic patients in endorsing primarily lower-maturity defense mechanisms, 2) dysthymic patients would use a distinct pattern of defense mechanisms, different from that of panic patients, and 3) dysthymic patients would endorse more frequently than panic patients four individual defenses that tend to handle anger and low self-esteem poorly: devaluation, passive aggression, projection, and hypochondriasis. METHOD: Twenty-two subjects meeting the DSM-III-R criteria for primary early-onset dysthymia and 22 subjects meeting the DSM-III-R criteria for primary panic disorder were interviewed on videotape and rated on the Defense Mechanism Rating Scales. RESULTS: The dysthymic subjects scored significantly higher on narcissistic, disavowal, and action defense levels and on the four individual defenses of devaluation, projection, passive aggression, and hypochondriasis, as predicted, as well as on two additional defenses, acting out and projective identification. Both groups tended to use lower-maturity defense mechanisms. CONCLUSIONS: The defense mechanism profile identified for dysthymia differs from that for panic disorder and supports particular psychodynamic hypotheses about chronic depression. It could be useful in devising treatment strategies and as a measure of treatment efficacy.

Acting Out↗
PubMed1993

Continuing female predominance in depressive illness.

This paper examines gender differences in temporal trends for major depressive disorder in childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood. The study sample, a high-risk group from the National Institute of Mental Health Collaborative Study on the Psychobiology of Depression, includes 2000 first-degree relatives of probands with affective disorder. The age-specific incidence rates were analyzed to determine the effect of gender, age, period, and cohort on depression by age 35. Women had nearly a twofold increase in risk of major depressive disorder, with rates peaking between adolescence and early adulthood. Vulnerability to depression was highest in the 1960s and 1970s. The rate increase in recent decades has not corresponded to a reduction in the gender differences.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1993

A comparison of symptom determinants of patient and clinician global ratings in patients with panic disorder and depression.

The Clinical Global Impression (CGI) is a standard assessment tool that generally shows good sensitivity to change in psychopharmacology trials. However, systematic assessment has not been conducted to determine how rating decisions are made. In this article, we examine the relationship between syndromal symptomatology and the CGI severity and improvement ratings in a study of 116 patients who met DSM-III-R criteria for both Panic Disorder and Depression. Anticipatory anxiety and depression ratings were significantly associated with each CGI item. Frequency of panic attacks was consistently related to the clinician's rating of severity but was only sporadically related to the clinician and patient improvement ratings. These findings are fairly consistent during the course of treatment. Our empirical examination of symptom determinants of the CGI demonstrates that it appears to be used systematically, yet global ratings are not merely a composite of symptomatology. Its widespread application in clinical trials is well justified.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Effect size as a measure of symptom-specific drug change in clinical trials.

A data-analytic strategy is proposed for identifying the symptom-specific effects of each medication in a clinical trial. The within-group effect size is a standardized ratio of the pre-post change relative to the stability of change for each treatment group. Advantages of using this descriptive approach are illustrated by examining antidepressant effects of alprazolam, imipramine, and placebo in a clinical trial for patients meeting criteria for both panic disorder and depression. There was a significant difference between active medication and placebo on the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) total, but no difference between the anti-depressant effects of the active medications despite their diverse psychopharmacologic properties. Examination of effect sizes for each HAM-D item revealed distinct symptom-specific effects of each active medication in this study sample. Although these descriptive findings cannot be used for inferential conclusions, they can be used to guide the design of future trials.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Cocaine use, risk taking, and fatal Russian roulette.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between recent cocaine use and risk taking, particularly in the form of playing Russian roulette, a paradigm for extreme risk-taking behavior. DESIGN: A case-control study. CASES AND CONTROLS: The prevalence of cocaine use among all Russian roulette fatalities (N = 14) was compared with a demographically similar, randomly selected sample (N = 54) of all suicides by handgun during a contemporaneous 4-year period in New York City, NY. RESULTS: Recent use of cocaine, the most common drug found at autopsy, was detected in 64% of Russian roulette fatalities and in 35% of the control group (P less than .05). All Russian roulette fatalities were male and usually young and unemployed. Blacks and Hispanics accounted for 80% of all cases and were overrepresented compared with their numbers in the general population. CONCLUSION: In some populations cocaine may be associated with life-threatening risk-taking behaviors.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Relationship between central and peripheral serotonin indexes in depressed and suicidal psychiatric inpatients.

Serious suicidal behavior, affective disorders, and a variety of other psychopathologic behaviors and syndromes have been found to correlate with measures of the serotonin system. Clinical studies have employed a range of serotonin indexes, including the cerebrospinal fluid level of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, the prolactin response to serotonin agonists, such as fenfluramine hydrochloride, and platelet serotonin-related proteins or serotonin content. Many of these indexes are correlated with suicidal behavior, but the interrelationship of these biologic measures has been uncertain. We studied the relationship of a series of serotonin indexes in patients in whom these measures were correlated with suicidal behavior. A positive correlation was found between cerebrospinal fluid 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid and the maximal prolactin response to fenfluramine but not with platelet serotonin2 receptor indexes. The fenfluramine-stimulated maximal prolactin response correlated with platelet serotonin2 receptor number, particularly in older patients. We conclude that cerebrospinal fluid 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid measurements cannot be replaced but can be complemented by less invasive procedures, such as a fenfluramine challenge test or platelet serotonin2 measures, in the study of the relationship of the serotonin system to psychiatric disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The effect of access to lethal methods of injury on suicide rates.

The relationship between the availability of lethal methods of injury and suicide rates is an important, but unresolved question. We investigated this relationship by prospectively classifying lethal methods according to their accessibility in the five counties of New York City. These counties have both similarities and differences in the proportion of their populations with access to specific lethal means. We then compared the age- and gender-adjusted method-specific suicide rates of these counties. There were marked differences in overall crude suicide rates among the five counties. The counties had similar suicide rates involving methods that were equally accessible to all persons in each county (eg, hanging, laceration, suffocation, and burns) as well as methods that were accessible to a smaller, but similar proportion of the population in each county (eg, firearms and drowning in waterways). Virtually all of the differences in overall suicide risk among counties were explained by differences in rates involving methods that were differentially available in the counties, principally fall from height, overdose of prescription medications, and carbon monoxide poisoning. We conclude that differences in suicide rates between communities are, in large part, due to differences in accessibility to lethal methods of injury. Therefore, systematic studies should evaluate the effect of reducing accessibility to specific lethal means on suicide rates.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1992

Assessing impairment in patients with panic disorder: the Sheehan Disability Scale.

The DSM-III-R incorporates both distress (symptoms) and disability (impairment) in the definition of a psychiatric disorder. In psychiatric research there is a wide array of instruments used to measure symptom severity, but a limited selection for the assessment of impairment. The psychometric properties of one such instrument, The Sheehan Disability Scale (Sheehan 1983), are evaluated in this paper. The data analyzed come from two studies of patients with panic disorder, the Cross National Collaborative Panic Study--Phase I and the Panic Depression Study. In this report both the alpha coefficients and factor analyses indicate that the reliability of the scale is acceptable. The factor structure of the items and the sensitivity to change of their composite demonstrate satisfactory construct validity. The criterion-related validity is substantiated by the significant relationship between symptomatology and impairment. These analyses were limited to patients with panic disorder. Further work is needed to evaluate the instrument in assessing patients with other disorders.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1992

Evaluating the diagnostic criteria for panic disorder: measures of social morbidity as criteria.

Over 9% of the subjects in the NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area sample reported a history of at least one panic attack, yet only 1.5% of the sample met DSM-III criteria for panic disorder. In light of the revisions of these criteria for DSM-IV, two of those diagnostic criteria, frequency of panic attacks and number of symptoms during a panic attack, are examined in this paper. We evaluated the relationship between those criteria and each of three measures of social morbidity:psychiatric hospitalization, emergency room (ER) use for emotional problems, and suicide attempts. Although only symptom count was significantly associated with either ER use or suicide attempts, both diagnostic criteria were associated with psychiatric hospitalization. The threshold for symptom count was also considered and while three appeared to have slightly better sensitivity and specificity, the continued use of four symptoms seemed acceptable. The diagnostic and clinical implications of the findings are considered.

Catchment Area, Health↗
PubMed1992

Prevalence of cocaine use among residents of New York City who committed suicide during a one-year period.

OBJECTIVE: In the mid-1980s the form of cocaine called "crack" became widely available in New York City. The authors sought to determine the prevalence of cocaine metabolites detected at autopsy in persons who committed suicide in New York City during this period. METHOD: Individual reviews of the autopsy and toxicological records of all persons under the age of 61 who had committed suicide in the city during a 1-year period were conducted to determine demographic characteristics, suicide methods, and cocaine and alcohol use at the time of death. RESULTS: In one of every five cases studied, the person who committed suicide had used cocaine within days of his or her death. The prevalence of cocaine use among young Hispanic males who committed suicide was 45%. Persons who were young, black, or Hispanic and who had used alcohol immediately before the fatal injury were most likely to have been recent cocaine users. After controlling for demographic variables and ethanol use, the investigators found that individuals who committed suicide with firearms were twice as likely to have used cocaine as those who used other methods. CONCLUSIONS: In contrast to the results of regional and household surveys during this period, which suggested that the current prevalence of cocaine use in New York City was 3%-5%, these results suggest a high prevalence of cocaine use in the days immediately preceding death by young persons who commit suicide. Additional studies are needed to determine how cocaine may act as a risk factor for suicide.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Prevalence of recent cocaine use among motor vehicle fatalities in New York City.

We determined the prevalence of recent cocaine and alcohol use among motor vehicle fatalities occurring in New York, NY, from 1984 through 1987. Recent cocaine use was detected at autopsy in 18.2% of the sample and no significant difference between drivers (20.0%) and passengers (13.9%) was found. Both alcohol and cocaine metabolites were found in 10.0% of cases tested. The prevalence of cocaine metabolites or alcohol detected in driver fatalities aged 16 through 45 years did not change significantly when the period prior to the widespread availability of "crack" cocaine (1984 through 1985) was compared with the period immediately following the introduction of crack cocaine (1986 through 1987). Additional studies are needed both to elucidate the association between cocaine use and these fatalities and to determine the value of screening persons seriously injured in traffic accidents in areas where such drug use is endemic.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1990

Statistical issues in the identification of risk factors for suicidal behavior: the application of survival analysis.

Studies of suicide risk factors generally examine suicidal behavior as a dichotomous outcome. Survival analytic techniques are discussed in which the time until a suicide attempt from a specific point, such as prior attempt or onset of illness, is also examined. These procedures can incorporate information on those lost to followup or "censored." One survival analytic technique, Cox's proportional hazards model, is a particularly informative statistical technique for the study of suicidal risk factors because several covariates can be incorporated. Illustrative analyses estimate the significance of different risk factors, and demonstrate that there is a 32% increase in the relative risk of a suicide attempt associated with each prior attempt.

Adult↗
PubMed1989

Neurochemical studies of violent and nonviolent suicide.

Considerable data have been reported indicating that there is a relationship between suicide or more serious suicide attempts and alterations in indices of serotonin (5-HT) function in patients. The fact that these data are based on studies of both suicide completers as well as more serious suicide attempters and involve a range of experimental techniques spanning biochemical assays of postmortem brain tissue as well as neuroendocrine challenge tests and platelet studies strengthens this finding. However, whether altered serotonin indices are specifically associated with violent compared to nonviolent suicide remains less clear. The relationship may be with some other aspect of suicidal behavior such as the overall lethality of the suicide method, impulsivity, or degree of planning. Suicide method appears to be related to modeling effects or to the relative availability of different methods of suicide, which argues against a predominant role for biological factors in selecting suicide methods. The relative importance of biological vs. modeling and sociological factors in determining suicide method will require more comprehensive studies in which the contribution of all of these factors is assessed simultaneously in the same patient population.

Brain Chemistry↗