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Biomedical subjects

J Angst

Publications and source records attributed to J Angst.

At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources
PubMed1980

Course of schizoaffective psychoses: results of a followup study.

The course of illness was investigated retrospectively and prospectively in a sample of 150 hospitalized schizoaffective patients and 95 hospitalized bipolar manic-depressive patients. The two disorders showed more similarities than differences in their course; this was true for the age of onset (31.8 versus 34.7 years) and the length of illness until the end of the observation period (22.5 versus 23.8 years). Schizoaffective disorders took a more benign course than bipolar disorders, as measured by the frequency of the episodes (median 7 versus 9 episodes). Accordingly, periods of remission between episodes were longer in schizoaffective patients. The length of the episodes themselves was about the same in both disorders (median 3 months). Although subjects had reached an average age of 60 years, 63% of schizoaffective and 82% of bipolar patients had experienced new episodes during the last 5 years of the observation period. Patients with schizoaffective psychoses were less likely to achieve a full remission than patients with bipolar disorders. A residual state was observed in 57% of schizoaffective and 24% of bipolar patients during the intervals between episodes. Because both schizoaffective and bipolar disorders showed a highly recurrent course, many patients received long-term treatment with neuroleptic drugs, antidepressants, or lithium.

Antidepressive Agents↗
PubMed1980

An immunological basis of schizophrenia and affective disorders?

In 48 patients with schizophrenia and 32 patients with affective disorders, different immune parameters were tested. Compared to blood-donors, IgG and IgM serum concentrations were increased in both the schizophrenic and affective disorders. However, these abnormalities did not differ from hospital control populations. The patients failed to show an association of antibodies considered to be characteristic of autoimmune diseases. In addition, no increased incidence of circulating immune compexes was detected. The only substantial serologic abnormality froun was an elevation of C4 levels in patients with biopolar psychosis.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

[Development of narcotics consumption in adolescents 19 and 20 years old. A comparison in the canton of Zurich 1971, 1974 and 1978].

In 1971, 1974 and 1978 representative samples of 19/20-year-old males and females in the Canton of Zurich (Switzerland) answered identical questionnaires on consumption of alcohol, tobacco and drugs. It was thus possible to analyze changes in consumption habits for alcohol, tobacco and drugs by young adults. Consumption patterns changed differently for males and females, with a tendency for females to approach the same levels as males. The number of persons who had been drunk at least once nearly doubled; among men to 68% (as compared to 41% in 1971) and among females to 44% (21%). However, the number of heavy alcohol consumers did not change greatly. The number of cigarette smoking males decreased markedly to 42% (compared to 55%) and is now similar to that of females (43%/41%). The consumption of drugs did not change strikingly. The number of females consuming marijuana increased slightly from 13% to 17%, whereas that of males decreased slightly to 20% (23%). This can be explained by the lower proportion of males with only 1--10 marijuana experiences. The social context of drug consumption shows greater changes than the mere number of consumers: the age of the first drug experience is now considerably lower while differences in drug contact by region or by social strata show a tendency to disappear, with the sole exception of persons without occupational training who now show extremely high drug experiences. It is therefore assumed that drug consumption is no longer a means of self-experience but rather a form of evasive behavior.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

[Risk factors for heavy cigarette smoking in young men: a longitudinal study].

In a three-year follow-up on 841 males questioned at the age of 19 and 22 years, an attempt has been made to determine the characteristics of social situation and personality which are correlated with constant heavy cigarette consumption, and what other risk factors are also involved. Bivariate analyses, multiple regression, and path analysis revealed the following influencing factors: personality traits such as nervousness and extraversion, low social integration, low assessment of the subject's own health situation, loose ties with parents, lower school level, increased alcohol and cannabis consumption. No correlation was found with religion, social status of parents, masculinity, blood group or rhesus factor.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

[Suicide and endogenous psychosis].

The frequency of suicide among a population of 675 patients with functional psychoses, within a period of observation between 9 and 24 years, was 5.5%. Suicide was the cause of death in 25.6% of all lethal outcomes. The suicide frequency of schizophrenics was 1.4%, of the bipolar cases 2.4% of the monopolar depressives 10.4%. The frequency of suicide of the parents and sibs of schizophrenics was 1.3%, of schizoaffectives 3.8%, monopolar depressives 4.2%, bipolar affective psychotics 4.3%. There was no sex difference in regard to suicide frequency but in regard to the choice of suicide means (strangulation in male, poisoning and submersion in female relatives).

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Schizoaffective disorders. Results of a genetic investigation, I.

1004 first degree relatives fo 150 schizoaffective patients (41 males, 109 females) were studied and a total morbidity risk of 29.6% of schizoaffective spectrum disorders were found. The relatives show an increased morbidity risk for schizophrenia (5.26%) and affective disorder (6.55%) with a high incidence of catatonia and unipolar depression; schizoaffective secondary cases were only found in 3%. There is no significant difference in morbidity between parents, siblings and children. The morbidity risk of neuroses is 5.3%, for personality disorders 7.2% and for suicides without spectrum diagnosis 1.8%. Off-spring of affected parents show a morbidity risk twice as high as that of off-spring of non-affected parents. The findings do not support the present concept of the ICD (International Classification of Disorders) of WHO, which subsumes schizoaffective disorders under the major rubric of schizophrenia. From a genetic viewpoint schizoaffective disorder takes an intermediate position between schizophrenia and affective disorders. None of the present hypotheses of the mode of inheritance is supported by the findings.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

Are schizoaffective psychoses heterogeneous? Results of a genetic investigation, II.

150 schizoaffective probands and their 1029 first-degree relatives were examined in search of the heterogeneity of the disorder. The sample of probands was split by several criteria. Among the various subgroups the morbidity risk of relatives was analysed as an external criterion for heterogeneity. Female relatives show a higher risk for affective disorders that male relatives. This is true for relatives of male and female index patients. Schizophrenia is equally frequent in male and female relatives. Schizoaffective psychoses take an intermediate position. The further analysis included the following characteristics of the probands: age at first episode, number of episodes, psychopathological subtypes (affective, schizophrenic, undifferentiated: manic, non-manic). None of these criteria proved to distinguish subgroups significantly, therefore, the search for heterogeneity was negative, although some results show a trend to the expected direction.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1979

[Depression in elderly--results of a follow-up study (author's transl)].

In this paper results of a prospective follow-up study from 1959 to 1975 are presented. 159 unipolar depressive and 95 bipolar manic-depressive patients were subdivided into: --early onset patients (EO) less than 40 years, and--late onset patients (LO): greater than 40 years. These two groups are compared with each other. The common features predominate: they do not differ in the sex ratio, and the periodicity of the disorder. However, they differ in the length of episode of unipolar depression, recovery rate, and chronification.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

[Reproducibility of the factorial structure of the AMP system].

Using the data of 552 patients mainly suffering from endogenous psychoses, the factorial structure (2--9 factors) of the AMP system was determined and compared to the results of a previous analysis. The 2- to 5-factor solutions were reproduced. In the 9-factor solution, on which the 9 known AMP scales are based, 2 factors ('paranoid' and 'hypochondriac syndrome') were not completely reproducible.

Humans↗
PubMed1978

The course of affective disorders. I. Change of diagnosis of monopolar, unipolar, and bipolar illness.

All patients suffering from affective psychoses (ICD 296) who were admitted to the Psychiatric University Clinic of Zurich between 1959 and 1963 were studied in a follow-up investigation until 1975. Of 254 affective psychoses, 95 were bipolar patients (37.4%) and 159 were monopolar (62.6%). The sample of bipolar patients was complemented with all patients who had been admitted in the period 1959--1963 because of manic or mixed manic-depressive syndromes. This paper describes the change of diagnosis in the two diagnostic groups. In 10% (N = 20) of monopolar depression cases there was a change of diagnosis to bipolar affective illness. An analysis shows that the diagnosis of patients with three or more depressive episodes (unipolar depressives) was especially prone to change. A mathematical correction of some diagnostic errors leads to the conclusion that the ratio of unipolar depression to bipolar illness may be about 1:1. A major source of diagnostic error lies in the change of affective to schizo-affective illness. Up to now, no clinical criterion exists that would exclude this error, which was found in 6% (n=12) of the monopolar but also in 7.5% (n = 3) of the bipolar index patients. It is recommended that studies of affective disorders should be based on truly representative samples of the illness, including patients with one or two episodes, and that the term 'unipolar depression' be used synonymously with the term 'monopolar depression,' originally created by Kleist (1947) and Leonhard (1957).

Affective Symptoms↗
PubMed1978

The course of affective disorders. II. Typology of bipolar manic-depressive illness.

A representative sample of 95 hospitalized bipolar manic-depressive patients was followed up from 1959 to 1975. The mean age of the group at the time of this study was 61 years. It was observed that female bipolar patients demonstrate depression much more frequently than mania, while male patients show a symmetric distribution of both manic and depressive syndromes. The longitudinal occurrence of syndromes remains more or less constant; for instance, individual patients do not tend to go into depression with increasing age. The study shows that even after three episodes 29% of all bipolar patients would still have been misdiagnosed as unipolar depression. An attempt is made to classify bipolar patients into three subtypes, 'preponderantly manic,' 'preponderantly depressed,' and a 'nuclear' type. Male patients belong mainly to the latter with an equal proportion of the first and third subtype. In contrast, female patients belong mainly to the depressed subtype. The findings are discussed assuming either a heterogeneity of bipolar disorders or a threshold model of affective disorders suggested by Gershon et al. (1976).

Adult↗