Evidence-based medicine & medical myths.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J H Friedman.
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The genome scan of the European-American schizophrenia families from the Human Genetics Initiative of the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) reported a suggestive linkage to chromosome 10p. Subsequently, Paterson and Petronis [1999] reported evidence for transmission ratio distortion on 10p to females. They suggested that transmission ratio distortion to females might have created spurious evidence for linkage to 10p. To address this issue, we reanalyzed our 10p data using only male-male affected sibling pairs. The two chromosome 10p markers that gave the most evidence for linkage in our prior report continued to show evidence for linkage: D10S1423 (NPL Z = 3.0, P = 0.001) and its neighbor D10S582 (NPL Z = 2.9, P = 0.002). These data suggest that our prior report of suggestive linkage of schizophrenia to markers on 10p cannot be attributed to the transmission ratio distortion to females reported by Paterson and Petronis. Am. J. Med. Genet. (Neuropsychiatr. Genet.) 88:607-608, 1999.
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Quetiapine is an atypical antipsychotic with clozapine-like pharmacology but without associated agranulocytosis. We report our complete experience with quetiapine for the treatment of drug-induced psychosis (DIP) in Parkinson's disease (PD). Thirty-five patients with PD and DIP aged 75 years (range, 58-89) with a mean PD duration of 8.4 years on an average of 427 mg levodopa per day received a mean dose of 40.6 mg quetiapine daily. Twenty of 24 neuroleptic-naive patients reported marked improvement of psychosis without a decline in motor function as assessed by the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS-motor). Ten patients had a baseline and 4-week follow-up assessment using the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) and Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). The improvement in BPRS score (32.6 versus 22.8) was clinically and statistically significant (p = 0.024). Three of 24 were unable to tolerate quetiapine because of orthostatic hypotension, headache, nausea, and persistence of hallucinations. One patient died of an unrelated cause. We also tried to switch 11 psychiatrically stable patients on clozapine (eight) and olanzapine (three). Five patients made this transition without a loss of effect as measured on BPRS and MMSE. Six did not (five on clozapine, one on olanzapine) because of confusion, erratic behavior, and increased hallucinations. No crossover failure had worsened PD except for increased tremor in one. Quetiapine is useful and well-tolerated as a first drug to treat DIP in PD but must be used cautiously to replace other atypical antipsychotic drugs.
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"Punding" is a stereotypical motor behavior in which there is an intense fascination with repetitive handling and examining of mechanical objects, such as picking at oneself or taking apart watches and radios or sorting and arranging of common objects, such as lining up pebbles, rocks, or other small objects. It is thought to be dopamine-related although only a single report of punding in a patient with Parkinson's disease (PD) resulting from L-dopa has been reported. We describe three additional cases. All were women aged 65-72 years with a PD duration between 10 and 20 years, on 500-1900 mg L-dopa per day. One spent hours in the market fascinated by cans. At home she endlessly examined and catalogued her jewelry. Another picked threads in rugs indoors and weeded her garden compulsively to the point of wetting herself rather than stopping. The third hoarded flashlights taking them apart and reassembling them. All improved with reduction of their anti-PD medications. We think punding is an uncommon but overlooked complication of dopaminergic drugs.
The purpose of this study was to determine the risk of detrusor hyperreflexia in women with Parkinson's disease. Fourteen women with Parkinson's disease and urinary complaints were compared with 28 age-matched women who had urinary complaints and no neurologic disease (controls). Demographic data, symptomatology, multichannel urodynamic indices and rates of diagnoses were compared between the two groups using the Mantel-Haenszel matched odds ratio (OR) and the Kruskal-Wallis test. The mean age of the women was 73.3 years. Those with Parkinson's disease had an increased rate of detrusor hyperreflexia (92.8% vs. 50.0%, OR 13, 95% confidence interval 1.6,228, P=0.02) which occurred at lower volumes (150.0 ml vs. 225.0 ml, P=0.01), and a lower maximum cystometric capacity (240.0 ml vs. 335.0 ml, P=0.02) compared to the control group. It was concluded that women with Parkinson's disease and lower urinary tract complaints have a lower maximum cystometric capacity and a higher rate of detrusor hyperreflexia at lower bladder volumes.
Despite the high prevalence of Parkinson's disease (PD) in the elderly, little information is available regarding the epidemiology of the disease in residents in long-term care facilities. Using a population-based database with over 470,000 residents (1992-1996) of all Medicare- or Medicaid-certified nursing homes of five states, we identified 24,402 residents with a diagnosis of PD. We examined data collected with the federally mandated Minimum Data Set, and sociodemographic, clinical, and treatment information. The prevalence of PD in nursing homes was 5.2%, with peak age-specific prevalence between ages 75 and 84 years. Seventy percent of patients had moderate to severe cognitive impairment, and over 80% had moderate to severe functional disability. Less than 10% had verbal and physical signs of grief and anxiety, and 80% exhibited poor psychosocial well-being, yet only 15% were actively treated for depression. Only 44% received antiparkinsonian drugs. Female gender, black race, age, level of cognitive impairment, and level of physical functioning were inversely related to the likelihood of receiving one of these drugs. When antipsychotic drugs were administered (15%), only 1% were atypical agents. Although PD is a relatively common diagnosis among nursing home residents, pharmacologic management of these individuals appears to be less than optimal.
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