Biomedical subjects

J Popovich

Publications and source records attributed to J Popovich.

59 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Health care utilization of somatizing patients in a pulmonary subspecialty clinic.

Somatizing patients present with medically unexplained physical complaints, repeat clinic visits, and a history of prior extensive testing. The authors reviewed 1,908 pulmonary consultation reports for 1990-1991 for evidence of somatization, yielding a group of 41 (2%) patients for study. Billing records were obtained and were compared to asthmatic patients and those in a health maintenance organization (HMO). Health care costs for the somatizing patients were significantly higher than the average cost for HMO patients and comparable to the health costs for patients with asthma. Half of the somatizing patients had psychological problems indicated in their medical records, but few received psychiatric referral or treatment. Management of the somatizing patient within the specialty clinic and on-site psychiatric treatment are suggested as ways to decrease unnecessary health care utilization.

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Screening for somatizing patients in the pulmonary subspecialty clinic.

Somatizing patients present a history of vague, unexplained medical symptoms. This study compared somatizing patients with pulmonary control subjects by using the Diagnostic Interview Schedule (DIS-III-R), the Illness Attitude Scales (IAS), and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI-2). The groups differed in the number of somatization symptoms reported and in the frequency of somatization disorder diagnoses when the screening criteria were used. The somatizing group obtained higher scores on the bodily preoccupation and hypochondriacal beliefs subscales of the IAS; no differences were found on the MMPI-2. These findings indicate that the DSM-III-R somatization screening items can be useful for detecting somatization when patients present with unexplained respiratory complaints.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Chromosome 6p microsatellite polymorphisms in African-Americans.

Allele frequency distributions were determined for seven microsatellite DNA markers spanning the short arm of chromosome 6 in a population of African-Americans. A total of 196 chromosomes were analyzed. African-Americans differed from reported studies on Caucasians in the number of alleles, allele frequency and predominating alleles. These differences resulted in higher heterozygosity and polymorphic information content for these loci in the African-American population than in Caucasians. Each marker appeared to be in Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium within this population. These results demonstrate the need to determine population-specific allele frequency distributions for polymorphic markers when performing genetic linkage studies in racially defined groups. This study provides gene frequency data for this ethnic group in a region of the genome which has attracted attention as contributing genetic susceptibility to a number of diseases.

Alleles↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Endoscopic findings in sarcoidosis. Characteristics and correlations with radiographic staging and bronchial mucosal biopsy yield.

Flexible fiberoptic bronchoscopy was performed in 101 patients with sarcoidosis, and the endoscopic findings were analyzed and correlated with radiographic stages and diagnostic bronchial biopsy. Endoscopic findings included bronchostenosis (26% of patients), mucosal nodularity (64%), hypervascularity (38%), and mucosal edema (55%). The only correlation between these findings and the radiographic stage was the presence of mucosal nodularity observed in 73% of stage I (14/19 patients), decreasing to only 48% in stage III (15/31 patients). Bronchial biopsy yield was 58% for stage I, 62% for stage II, and 46% for stage III, with overall yield of 57%. However, the addition of bronchial biopsies increased the diagnostic yield of the bronchoscopic procedure from 73% for transbronchial biopsies alone to 88% when the two procedures were combined. In the presence of endobronchial stenosis, mucosal nodularity and hypervascularity, bronchial biopsy yield was 91% vs 37% when these were absent. We conclude that the endoscopic characteristics, with the exception of nodularity, do not correlate with radiographic stages. Bronchial biopsy yield is higher in those patients with mucosal nodularity, increased vascularity, and bronchostenosis. Bronchial mucosal biopsy also improved the overall diagnostic yield when it is obtained in conjunction with transbronchial lung biopsy.

Biopsy↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Anatomic abnormalities in obstructive sleep apnea.

Both muscular hypotonia and anatomic abnormalities have been implicated in the pathogenesis of the obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). The upper airways of 25 patients with OSAS were evaluated to determine potential sites of obstruction. Significant airway compromise was found in all patients with some patients having multiple sites of airway narrowing.

Adult↗