Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

N N Wig

Publications and source records attributed to N N Wig.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

Attitudes about schizophrenia from the pilot site of the WPA worldwide campaign against the stigma of schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: A series of surveys were conducted to assess the attitudes of the public, and other groups, toward those with schizophrenia. The aim of these surveys was to aid in the planning and evaluation of the WPA anti-stigma initiative in Alberta, Canada. METHOD: A questionnaire was devised and administered via telephone to over 1,200 individuals in three Alberta cities, and in paper and pencil format to 40 members of the Schizophrenia Society of Alberta and 67 medical students. RESULTS: In contrast to some earlier findings, "loss of mind" was rated to be more disabling than any other handicapping condition. In general, respondents showed a relatively sophisticated understanding of schizophrenia and a higher level of acceptance than might have been predicted. Nonetheless, this acceptance was not as high for situations where closer personal contact was likely, and fears of dangerousness continue to be associated with schizophrenia. The majority of respondents, however, felt that treatment aided those with schizophrenia, expressed support for progressive programmes for the mentally ill, and stated that they would be willing to pay higher taxes so that programming could be improved. CONCLUSIONS: The results do not support the utility of a broad approach for an anti-stigma campaign, but rather suggest a more specific focus, such as perceived dangerousness.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2001

Mortality and long-term course in schizophrenia with a poor 2-year course: a study in a developing country.

BACKGROUND: The short-term course of schizophrenia is reported to be better in some developing country settings. The long-term course in such settings, however, has rarely been studied. AIMS: To examine the long-term course and mortality of schizophrenia in patients with a poor 2-year course. METHOD: The report is based on two incidence cohorts of first-contact patients in urban and rural Chandigarh, India, originally recruited for the World Health Organization Determinants of Outcome of Severe Mental Disorders study. Patients were assessed using standardised instruments at 2- and 15-year follow-ups. RESULTS: Ninety-two per cent of the patients with a poor 2-year course had a poor long-term course and 47% died - a nine times higher mortality rate than among patients with other 2-year course types. CONCLUSIONS: In this developing country setting, a poor 2-year course was strongly predictive of poor prognosis and high mortality, raising questions about the adequacy of care for such patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1999

Fever and acute brief psychosis in urban and rural settings in north India.

BACKGROUND: This case-control study used data from Chandigarh, North India to investigate the association between antecedent fever and acute brief psychosis. AIMS: To assess whether antecedent fever may be a biological correlate of acute brief psychosis, and contribute to the nosology of acute brief psychosis. METHOD: The study was based in an incidence cohort from two catchment areas, an urban and a rural site, that were part of the World Health Organization Determinants of Outcome study. The cases (n = 17) met criteria for acute brief psychosis; controls (n = 40) were patients with other acute and subacute psychoses. The Life Events Schedule was used to determine the presence of antecedent fever. RESULTS: The crude odds ratio for fever as a risk factor for acute brief psychosis was 6.2 (P = 0.004). The odds ratio in a logistic regression analysis--adjusted for site, gender and CATEGO classification--was 11.2 (P = 0.003). CONCLUSIONS: Antecedent fever may be a biological correlate of acute brief psychosis. This finding supports the validity of this entity, and has implications for its aetiology and diagnosis.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1998

Onset of acute psychotic states in India: a study of sociodemographic, seasonal and biological factors.

This is a comparative study of patients with acute-onset, non-affective, non-organic, remitting psychoses and with non-remitting or schizophrenic psychoses in India. Two groups of patients with acute remitting and non-remitting or schizophrenic psychoses were compared with regard to the following variables: month of onset of psychosis; presence of stress, particularly fever, within 4 weeks preceding the onset of psychosis; childbirth within 12 weeks preceding the onset of psychosis; gender differences. It was found that the acute remitting psychoses showed an overrepresentation of females, a higher frequency of associated stress preceding the onset of psychosis, more often had onset during the summer months, i.e. between May and September, and had fever and childbirth preceding the onset of psychosis in a significantly higher proportion of patients, compared to acute non-remitting psychoses or schizophrenia. The implications of the findings which point towards biological factors in the aetiology of acute remitting psychoses are discussed.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1998

Long-term course of acute brief psychosis in a developing country setting.

BACKGROUND: This study in North India compared acute brief psychosis--defined by acute onset, brief duration and no early relapse--with other remitting psychoses, over a 12-year course and outcome. METHOD: In a cohort of incident psychoses, we identified 20 cases of acute brief psychosis and a comparison group of 43 other remitting psychoses based on two-year follow-up. Seventeen people (85%) in the acute brief psychosis group and 36 (84%) in the comparison group were reassessed at five, seven and 12 years after onset, and were rediagnosed using ICD-10 criteria. RESULTS: At 12-year follow-up, the proportion with remaining signs of illness was 6% (n = 1) for acute brief psychosis versus 50% (n = 18) for the comparison group (P = 0.002). Using ICD-10 criteria, the majority in both groups were diagnosed as having schizophrenia. CONCLUSIONS: Acute brief psychosis has a distinctive and benign long-term course when compared with other remitting psychoses. This finding supports the ICD-10 concept of a separable group of acute and transient psychotic disorders. To effectively separate this group, however, the ICD-10 criteria need modification.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1997

First-onset schizophrenia in the community: relationship of urbanization with onset, early manifestations and typology.

As part of a World Health Organization collaborative study in 12 centres in developing and developed countries within defined urban and rural catchment areas with populations of 348,786 and 103,865, respectively, a total of 155 and 54 cases of first-onset schizophrenia, respectively, were identified over a 24-month period by a comprehensive and active recruitment of all cases. Approximately 50% of the subjects in both cohorts were in the age range of 15-24 years. There was a preponderance of males in the younger age group and of females in the older age group. The majority of cases had no family history and had shown good adjustment in childhood and adolescence. The onset was much more frequently acute and much less often insidious in our samples and (more so in the rural cohort), compared to the figure for all developed countries' sites. With regard to early manifestations of the disorder, there was a much higher incidence of loss of interest in appearance and cleanliness, being irritable and angry without reason, and loss of appetite, sleep or interest in sex in both of our samples, and of being excited or overactive for days or weeks in our rural cohort than in the developed countries' centres as a whole. On the other hand, claiming impossible things, behaving as if hearing voices and feeling persecuted, harmed or bewitched were much less frequent in our rural cohort than in the urban cohort or the developed countries' centres as a whole. With regard to the clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia, paranoid, hebephrenic/disorganized and residual types were under-represented in our samples (more so in the rural sample), and catatonic type and acute schizophrenic episode were over-represented compared to the developed countries' centres. Moreover, the proportion of subjects of CATEGO class S+ was lower in our samples. With regard to onset, early manifestations and clinical subtypes of schizophrenia, our rural cohort deviated most from developed countries' centres as a whole, with our urban sample falling in between, thus indicating the role of socio-cultural factors in general, and urbanization in particular, in these variables in schizophrenia.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1997

Effects of level of socio-economic development on course of non-affective psychosis.

BACKGROUND: This study explored the relation of level of socio-economic development to the course of non-affective psychosis, by extending the analysis of urban/rural differences in course in Chandigarh, India. METHOD: The proportion of 'best outcome' cases between urban (n = 110) and rural (n = 50) catchment areas were compared at two-year follow-up, separately for CATEGOS+ and non-S+ schizophrenia. RESULTS: The proportion of subjects with 'best outcome' ratings at the urban and rural sites, respectively, was similar for CATEGOS+ schizophrenia (29 v. 29%), but significantly different for non-S+ psychosis (26 v. 47%). CONCLUSIONS: The fact that in rural Chandigarh, psychoses have a more favourable course than in the urban area may be explained in large part by psychoses distinct from 'nuclear' schizophrenia.

Cohort Studies↗
PubMed1996

Psychosocial and biological aspects of acute brief psychoses in three developing country sites.

This study explored biological as well as psychosocial contributions to the incidence of acute brief psychoses in three developing country sites. The samples were taken from the five year follow-up data of the International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia sites in Ibadan, Nigeria and Agra, India, and from the Determinants of Outcome of Severe Mental Disorders rural Chandigarh site. Baseline narratives of the cases and controls were reviewed and rated for presence or absence of three exposures: fever, departure from or return to parental village (women), and job distress (men). Results showed an association between fever and acute brief psychosis in all three sites. There was an association between acute brief psychosis and departure from or return to the parental village among women in all sites, and among men, an association between job distress and acute brief psychosis was noted in Ibadan and Agra. These findings suggest that psychosocial and biological factors such as these three exposures merit further research to clarify their roles in the etiology of acute brief psychoses.

Acute Disease↗
PubMed1993

Genetic loadings in schizophrenia: a dermatoglyphic study.

Finger and palmar dermatoglyphics of 120 male and 120 female schizophrenics with and without a family history of schizophrenia in first-degree relatives were studied in the northwestern part of India. Patients were selected according to specific diagnostic criteria. Significant dermatoglyphic differences were observed for fingerprint patterns, total finger ridge counts and 'atd' angle between the schizophrenics with and those without a positive family history of schizophrenia, suggesting a strong "genetic loading" (i.e., hereditary factors) in familial cases of schizophrenia. Dermatoglyphic features of isolated schizophrenics also significantly differed from those of controls, thus indicating the involvement of genetic factors in the etiology of schizophrenia.

Dermatoglyphics↗
PubMed1990

Relatives' expressed emotion and the course of schizophrenia in Chandigarh. A two-year follow-up of a first-contact sample.

A two-year follow-up was conducted of a subsample of the Chandigarh cohort of first-contact schizophrenic patients from the WHO Determinants of Outcome project. The patients were those living with family members who had been interviewed initially to determine their levels of expressed emotion (EE). The interview was repeated for 74% of the relatives at one-year follow-up. A dramatic reduction had occurred in each of the EE components and in the global index. No rural relative was rated as high EE at follow-up. Of the patients included in the one-year follow-up, 86% were followed for two years. In contrast to the one-year findings, the global EE index at initial interview did not predict relapse of schizophrenia over the subsequent two years. However, there was a significant association between initial hostility and subsequent relapse. The better outcome of this cohort of schizophrenic patients compared with samples from the West is partly attributable to tolerance and acceptance by family members.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1989

Psychiatric disorders among medical in-patients in an Indian hospital.

Psychiatric symptoms among medical in-patients in an Indian hospital were assessed: the SRQ was used as a screening instrument, and those with probable psychiatric disorders were given the PSE and MSE, for further, detailed assessment. The prevalence of psychiatric disorders was 34%, with a further 15% reporting distressing psychiatric symptoms only. The most frequent complaints were delirium and adjustment disorders. They were largely associated with connective tissue, as well as cardiovascular and endocrine, disorders, and were characterised by depression, worrying and irritability. The reliability of the SRQ varied with the cut-off score, which gave optimal specificity and sensitivity when set at 9.

Adjustment Disorders↗
PubMed1989

Alcohol-related problems in the emergency room of an Indian general hospital.

Alcohol-related problems made up 17.6% of the case load of psychiatric emergencies in an Indian general hospital. The police brought three-quarters of them, 45% for quarrels, street-fights and under influence of alcohol and 20% for minor offences like abusing in public. A psychiatric illness was definitely present in 40% of the cases. Only 10% of the patients with alcohol-related problems were referred for outpatient treatment. Eighty-five percent were not given any follow-up advice because the patients said they needed no help.

Accidents, Traffic↗
PubMed1988

Determinants of emergency room visits for psychological problems in a general hospital.

Determinants of emergency room visits for psychological reasons were studied prospectively for a four month period in an Indian General Hospital. Psychiatric emergencies constituted only 2% of all emergency visits. Most of the patients were new except for 7.4% who were already registered with the outpatient services of the psychiatry department. Males outnumbered females in a ratio of 2:1. Self-referrals constituted 77% of the samples; 21% of patients were brought by police. Two-thirds of the patients were brought owing to the severity of their clinical condition and the rest, one-third, for medico-legal and social reasons. Approximately 80% of the patients sought consultation within one month of the onset of illness episode. First episode of mental illness was within last one year of the emergency room visit in 60% patients. Past history of hospitalization for mental illness was obtained only in 10% of cases. The pattern suggested that there was no misuse of emergency services by psychiatric patients although 20% of the patients presented with social problems only which required social rather than psychiatric intervention.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1988

Unwelcome guests: bugbears of the emergency room physician.

In a prospective study on psychiatric emergencies in the setting of a general hospital, the phenomenon of repeat-visits was studied. Results confirm that repeaters represent a sizeable load on emergency services--about 18% of all psychiatric emergencies. Females and neurotics are over-represented among the repeaters. Chronic repeaters tend to evoke strong feelings among the emergency physicians thereby decreasing their chances of referral to the psychiatry resident on call.

Attitude of Health Personnel↗
PubMed1987

Patterns of coverage of psychiatric emergencies.

A massive change in the detection of psychiatric cases in the emergency room was recorded when pattern of coverage was changed from "on-call" basis to "continuous physical presence" of psychiatry residents in the emergency room.

Emergency Services, Psychiatric↗