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J Angst

Publications and source records attributed to J Angst.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1992

The Zurich Study. XII. Sex differences in depression. Evidence from longitudinal epidemiological data.

A prospective study of depressive syndromes and diagnoses was performed among a young adult Swiss population with three interviews over 7 years. Different definitions of depressive states were used: on the one hand, depressive syndromes including mood disturbances of any severity, on the other, well-defined diagnoses of depression. Women were consistently overrepresented among subjects with depressive syndromes of some length and among those with DSM-III major depressive disorder. Both sexes appeared equally affected by brief recurrent depressions with work impairment. Between the ages of 20 and 30 years, men as a group in contradistinction to women showed depressive syndromes with decreasing frequency, whereas, for diagnoses, the sex rates remained quite constant. For identical syndromes, women at each interview reported a greater number of symptoms. DSM-III-R symptoms of melancholia were not reported more often by women than by men. When syndromes or diagnoses were controlled, women and men suffered to an equal rate from subjective impairment at work. Women's syndromes were more recurrent. Among women, a diagnosis of depression was more often associated with disturbances of appetite and with phobias than among men. The importance of differential recall for sex differences in prevalence is discussed. Sex differences may have different weight and different causes with regard to depressive syndromes and to a diagnosis of depression.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The Zurich Study: XV. Suicide attempts in a cohort from age 20 to 30.

The life-time prevalence of suicide attempts in a Swiss population, interviewed four times between the ages of 20 and 30 years, was 3.8% (females 5.4%, males 2.1%). One fifth of the 30-year-olds reported persistent suicidal ideation. In comparison with controls, attempters reported a more disturbed childhood, and subjects with multiple attempts reported more sexual abuse. Over 10 years attempters persistently showed more negative affectivity, more feelings of helplessness and lower self-esteem. At age 30 they were higher on the scales neuroticism, masculinity and aggressivity in a personality test. Over ten years, a higher than expected comorbidity appeared of suicide attempts with depressive and anxiety disorders, with substance abuse, and with sociopathic features.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The Zurich Study. XVI. Early antecedents of depression. A longitudinal prospective study on incidence in young adults.

The purpose of this study was to investigate antecedents of first incidence of major depressive disorder and recurrent brief depression with the help of a cohort of 20 year-old Swiss, who was interviewed four times up to age 30. Cases diagnosed as depressed at the third or fourth interview (age 28 or 30) were compared with never diagnosed controls for antecedents at the first and second interview (age 21 and 23). Besides retrospectively assessed childhood precursors, later depressives showed slight differences in their relationship to parents and friends and early symptoms of subclinical depression, persistent helplessness and a surplus of life events. These antecedents were mainly found in females. The most persistent antecedent of later depression for both sexes was a higher score than controls' on the SCL-90R ("negative affectivity"). Whether this finding signifies that proneness to the milder depressions in young adults is rooted in personality is subject to discussion.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

The Zurich Study. XIII. Recurrent brief anxiety.

In the epidemiological Zurich cohort study a syndrome of 'Recurrent Brief Anxiety' (RBA) was identified and operationalized. It had a 1-year prevalence rate of 2.7, males seemed to prevail slightly. RBA was highly associated with 'Recurrent Brief Depression' (RBD) and panic, and to a minor extent with agoraphobia and dysthymia. The family history was positive for depression and anxiety (panic, generalized anxiety disorder). In studies of panic, one should look for the frequently associated syndromes of RBA and RBD.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The Zurich Study. XIV. Epidemiology of seasonal depression.

In a longitudinal cohort study of young adults from the Canton of Zurich in Switzerland (Zurich Study), seasonal patterns of several psychiatric and psychosomatic syndromes were investigated in two interviews over a period of three years. At an age of 27-28 years, 23% of the depressives, 15% of the neurasthenic subjects, and 14% of the subjects with backache reported an increased susceptibility in autumn and/or winter. With respect to the course we found that 10.4% of the subjects of the longitudinal sample (n = 417) suffered from seasonal depression (including individuals with subsyndromal seasonal difficulties) over two consecutive years. Specific symptoms, such as hypersomnia, increase of appetite or weight gain, were not found to be consistently associated with seasonal depression. A comparison of actual and retrospective reports on seasonal depression resulted in a very low reliability. In view of these results the seasonal subtype of depression should be diagnosed with caution, except when the diagnosis is based on longitudinal observations and/or external sources of information (e.g. family members, partner).

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Epidemiology of depression.

Review of the published literature produces 1-year prevalence rates for major depressive disorder DSM-III between 2.6 and 6.2%, for dysthymia between 2.3 and 3.7%, bipolar disorder 1.0-1.7%. Data from the prospective Zurich Study with four interviews over 10 years give relatively high 10-year prevalence rates for subjects from age 20 to 30 (14.4% major depression, 10.5% recurrent brief depression, 0.9% dysthymia, 3.3% bipolar disorder, 1.3% hypomania). On average, 49% of all these cases received treatment for affective disorder, resulting in a weighted treatment prevalence rate of the population of 11.6% (18% for females and 5% for males). It has to be assumed that lifetime prevalence rates based on recall may greatly underestimate true morbidity.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Efficacy of moclobemide in different patient groups: a meta-analysis of studies.

Whilst tricyclic antidepressants are efficacious in all depressive syndromes, classical MAO-inhibitors differ substantially from them in their action. They are considered less effective in general and not very effective in endogenous depression, but recommended for the treatment of 'atypical' depression. A new class of RIMA (Reversible Inhibitors of MAO-A) represented by moclobemide requires a change in clinical thinking on antidepressants. Moclobemide shows the same efficacy in depression as tricyclics: its effects are similar in unipolar and bipolar affective disorders, and in patients with major depressive episode superimposed on dysthymia (double depression). As with classical antidepressants, the response rate tends to be lower, but is still present in psychotic depression. Agitated depressives do not respond less well than non-agitated patients to moclobemide. Patients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for major depression with melancholia tend to respond better than non-melancholics, but this may be associated with the significantly higher baseline severity observed in melancholics. A slightly higher response rate in patients without concomitant benzodiazepine treatment, compared to those with benzodiazepine comedication, may also be related to baseline differences in the severity of depression. Elderly depressives respond less well than younger patients to classical antidepressants, but with moclobemide, elderly patients do as well as younger ones.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Binge eating and weight concerns among young adults. Results from the Zurich cohort study.

In the longitudinal cohort study of young adults from the Canton of Zurich in Switzerland, two groups of eating problems were defined: binge eating and weight concerns. Subjects with these conditions were interviewed at the ages of 27-28 and 29-30 years. The binge eaters, mostly women, differed both from subjects with weight concerns and from controls. They had more severe eating problems and more anxiety and depression. Follow-up as well as retrospective data suggest that eating problems are persistent for the binge eaters, and, to a lesser extent, also for subjects with weight concerns. Even so, professional treatment is rarely sought by subjects with eating problems. These findings encourage long-term studies on eating problems in community samples.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

[Functional stomach and intestinal complaints in young adults: incidence, follow-up, personality and psychosocial factors].

The prevalence rates and the course of functional gastrointestinal disorders in addition to psychopathology and psychosocial factors which are assumed to be associated with functional disorders were longitudinally investigated in an epidemiological cohort study of young adults aged 21-30 from the Canton of Zurich (Switzerland), by means of four interviews. Case definition was based on operational criteria concerning frequency and duration of symptoms reported by the subjects. One-year prevalence rates of (functional) stomach complaints and intestinal complaints were found to vary between 8.7 and 12.7 percent, and 9.1 and 11.1 percent, respectively, depending an the year of the interview. Subjects with stomach complaints scored higher on depression, anxiety and hostility (Hopkins Symptom Check List, Freiburger Persönlichkeitsinventar) then the controls. These associations were less strong among subjects with intestinal complaints. In addition, both complaints were found to be associated with scores on a life events measure, with distress from the social network, and with lack of social support.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1992

[Hypomania. Apropos of a cohort of young patients].

The Zurich prospective epidemiological study included 591 twenty-year old subjects. At age twenty-eight, 457 of these people (228 males, 234 females) were re-examined and 415 of them at age thirty (197 males, 218 females). The DSM III-R definition of hypomania was modified. We found the following prevalences: 1.7% with hypomania, 3% with bipolar syndromes, 18.6% with major depression (including mood disorders) and 12.3% with short recurrent depression. Compared to male subjects, the risk of major depression was twice as high in female subjects but was roughly the same for the other groups. The study compares three groups of subjects: subjects with hypomania (UM), bipolar subjects (BP) and unipolar depression. Considerable differences were found depending on the levels of treatment, positive family histories for depression or hypomania and attempted suicides. The results show that the distinction between a subject with hypomania and a bipolar subjects is not clear. The ratings of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist scales (SCL 90-R), and of the FPI personality test (Fahrenberg et al., 1973) are presented and discussed. 12.7% of major depression cases were bipolar and 8.3% of short depressions were recurrent. In this sample of normal Swiss population, the ratio of bipolar to unipolar syndromes was approximately 1:5.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

The Zurich Study. X. Hypomania in a 28- to 30-year-old cohort.

Hypomania in a 28- to 30-year-old cohort is described. Data were taken from a prospective longitudinal cohort study from the general population of Zurich, Switzerland. An estimated 1-year prevalence rate of hypomania of 4% was found. Over a period of time hypomania was associated with major depression and dysthymia. We found equal proportions of suicide attempts and equal rates of treated family members among hypomanics and depressives. Furthermore, the previous history of treatment of mild bipolars (hypomania with depression) and unipolar depressives was comparable. The sum of life events, several SCL-90R scores and the scores of distress in relationships were already elevated in hypomanics 7 years before diagnosis of hypomania, indicating an increased activity level, a generalized increase in neuroticism, and a relatively unvarying behaviour pattern in social relationships.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

The Zurich Study. XI. Is dysthymia a separate form of depression? Results of the Zurich Cohort Study.

Dysthymia was assessed in the prospective Zurich Cohort Study of young adults. The 1-year prevalence rate was around 3% if no exclusion criteria were applied. Pure dysthymics without major or recurrent brief depression accounted for about 1%. Most cases of dysthymia met the symptom criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD) and were characterized by a more continuous course. However, evidence presented in this paper suggests that a diagnosis separate from MDD is not warranted. The family history of dysthymic subjects did not differ from major depressives. The smaller group of primary dysthymics, on the other hand, did not differ from controls as regards family history for treated depression. The low prevalence rates, taken together with methodological problems involved in assessing dysthymia and the lack of a distinct course, suggest that dysthymia does not constitute a valid subtype of depression in an age group of 20-30 years of the community. Dysthymia belongs to the wide spectrum of major depressive syndromes and represents only a subgroup characterized by specific course characteristics.

Adult↗