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Biomedical subjects

A Okasha

Publications and source records attributed to A Okasha.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
PubMed1985

Academic difficulty among male Egyptian university students. I. Association with psychiatric morbidity.

A survey was made of academic difficulties among undergraduate students at Ain Shams University, Cairo, during the academic year 1979-1980. Almost 6% of students dropped out before graduating and a further 8% required substantial extra time to complete their course of study: these figures were almost identical for both sexes. Psychiatric disorders were diagnosed in 42% of male students with academic problems (compared with 9% among the academically successful), with neuroses accounting for nearly half of the cases and schizophrenia for a quarter. Serious psychiatric illness was nearly four times as frequent among 3rd-year students as among 1st-year students.

Educational Measurement↗
PubMed1985

Academic difficulty among male Egyptian university students. II. Associations with demographic and psychological factors.

We compared 178 students with academic problems with 77 academically successful students. Academic difficulty showed highly significant associations with low socio-economic status, over-crowded housing, paternal behaviour problems and a poor relationship between the parents; also significant associations with family history of psychiatric disorder and living away from home. Academic achievement at school was no guide to university performance. Failed students had fewer friendships, especially with women, and more limited recreational activities. They also scored significantly lower on tests of verbal and non-verbal IQ, and worse on the Bender Gestalt and trail-making tests. EPQ results suggested that university students, particularly those with academic difficulties, are more neurotic and introverted than the general Egyptian population.

Educational Measurement↗
PubMed1983

Problems of schizo-affective disorders.

The inclusion of schizo-affective type under schizophrenia in ICD-9 (9th revision of the international classification of diseases) and under psychotic disorders not elsewhere classified in DSM-3 (3rd edition of diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders), the absence of this term in the French classification, and its parallelism among Scandinavian writers with cycloid psychosis - all the above data reflect the present perplexity of schizo-affective disorders. Recent studies showed the presence of depressive symptoms in a large number of acute and chronic schizophrenias as an integral part of the schizophrenic process. The difficulty of differential diagnosis between mania and schizophrenia has added to our present dilemma. A review and discussion of the present status of the term 'schizo-affective disorders' are presented. A plea is made to abandon the dichotomy of functional psychosis with delineating 'psychosis of unknown etiology' into three or four categories (as this is no more functional).

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMed1982

Cortical and central atrophy in chronic schizophrenia. A controlled study.

CT of the brain was carried out in 43 chronic schizophrenics of more than 5 years' duration and less than 60 years of age, and 39 normal controls matched for age, sex and education. There was no statistical difference between controls and schizophrenics as regards cortical atrophy (as measured by the interhemispheric and Sylvian fissures and mean sulcal width). Highly significant differences were found regarding central atrophy. Third ventricle measurements were normal in 9.3%, there was slight enlargement in 37.2%, moderate in 48.8% and extreme in 4.7%. The cella media index denoting lateral ventricle dilatation showed changes in 46.5%, slight in 9.3% and the remaining 44.2% were normal. This study shows that a large number of chronic schizophrenics have an associated central atrophy.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1981

Prevalence of suicidal feelings in a sample of non-consulting medical students.

Five hundred and sixteen final-year non-consulting medical students were studied as to the occurrence of different degrees of suicidal feelings. A total of 12.6% reported some degree of suicidal feelings during the past year. Responses ranged along a continuum such that subjects reporting the more intense feelings also reported the less intense feelings. In 5.6% of the subjects the maximum intensity was only a feeling that life was not worthwhile, 4% had thought of taking their life, 0.9% had seriously considered suicide or made plans, and 0.4% had made an actual suicide attempt. Subjects experiencing suicidal feelings in the past year had had more minor psychiatric symptoms, particularly of depression, and had experienced more stressful events and somatic illness. In these respects they resembled the description of completed suicide.

Depression↗
PubMed1981

Psycho-demographic study of anxiety in Egypt: the PSE in its Arabic version.

This is the first attempt to study the socio-demographic aspects of anxiety disorders in Egypt and to apply the Arabic version of the PSE in evaluating the profiles of clusters and symptoms of anxiety in a sample of 120 patients with anxiety. There were significant differences in some presentations between males and females, between illiterate and educated groups, and between those exposed to mild and severe crowding. Structured interviews like PSE will help in transcultural comparisons of clinical psychiatric disorders.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Attempted suicide. An Egyptian investigation.

This study comprises 200 cases from a total of 1,155 patients who attempted suicide in 1975 and were admitted to the casualty department of Ain Shams University Hospital in Cairo, which has a catchment area comprising approximately 3 million people. A crude rate of suicide attempts in Cairo would be 38.5/100,000. There was a high percentage among the age group 15--44 years with no major differences between the two sexes. Single patients represented 53% of the total, with students showing the highest risk (40%). Depressive illnesses, hysterical reactions, and situational disorders, in that order of frequency, were the main causes of the attempt. Overdose by tablet ingestion was the most common method used (80%). Official government records are misleading and do not represent the true rate.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Psychiatric morbidity among university students in Egypt.

During a nine-month period (1974-75), 1,050 students (846 male, 204 female) at Ain Shams University, Cairo, attended the Student Health Centre. Fifty-two per cent were referred there by their general practitioners, 5 per cent by their families and 3 per cent through their faculties; the remainder (41 per cent) were self-referred. Male patients represented 2-8 per cent of the male students, but female patients only 0-9 per cent of the female students. In faculties dealing with practical subjects the male-female ratio was higher than in those dealing with more theoretical subjects. The diagnoses included anxiety neurosis (36 per cent of the cases), schizophrenia (18 per cent), depression (15 per cent) and neurotic depression (12 per cent).

Egypt↗