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Biomedical subjects

N Sartorius

Publications and source records attributed to N Sartorius.

At least 127 records · Page 7Linked to original sources
PubMed1978

Cross-cultural differences in the short-term prognosis of schizophrenic psychoses.

Results of the 2-year followup of the patients included in the International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia (World Health Organization 1973) indicate that patients diagnosed schizophrenic on the basis of standardized assessments and clearly specified criteria demonstrated very marked variations of course and outcome over a 2-year period. Schizophrenic patients in the centers in developing countries had, on the average, considerably better course and outcome than schizophrenic patients in the centers in developed countries. Part of the variation of course and outcome was related to sociodemographic (e.g., social isolation and marital status) and clinical (e.g., type of onset and precipitating factors) predictors, but another larger part remained statistically unexplained. This suggests that variables usually used to describe psychopathology, the environment, and history of psychiatric patients in European and North American cultures may not account for cross-cultural differences. Clinical diagnosis on initial evaluation appeared to be a good predictor of subsequent symptomatology, but not of the length of the episodes, the total time during which the patient would be psychotic, pattern of course, or the degree of social impairment. A 5-year followup of the IPSS patients has also been completed, and the collected data are being analyzed.

Cross-Cultural Comparison↗
PubMed1977

Two-year follow-up of the patients included in the WHO International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia.

Over 90% of the 1202 patients investigated in the 9 centres collaborating in the International Pilot Study of Schizophrenia were traced 2 years after the initial examination and on the average over 75% of them were re-examined, using standardized instruments and methods. Results indicate that patients diagnosed as schizophrenic on the basis of standardized assessments and clearly specified diagnostic criteria demonstrated very marked variations of course and outcome over a 2-year period. Schizophrenic patients in the centres in developing countries had considerably better course and outcome than schizophrenic patients in the centres in developed countries.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1977

Cultural and temporal variations in schizophrenia: a speculation on the importance of industrialization.

A speculative hypothesis is presented which links the late development of modern concepts of schizophrenia with social and familial effects of industrialization. It is suggested that the social and family structures found historically in pre-industrial societies and currently in developing countries exert a comparatively benign effect upon patients with schizophrenia, and that these effects are lost during and after industrialization. Thus the severe and chronic forms of the illness became prominent and therefore recognized in the segregated institutions of Europe in the latter part of the nineteenth century. Possible mechanisms are examined by which industrialization could influence the structure of communities and families and the development of individuals to produce the postulated changes in the individual's response to the schizophrenic illness. It is suggested that three major areas of interest for the identification of these mechanisms are (i) the rapid increase in size of towns and communities, (ii) changes in perinatal and infant mortality and morbidity, and (iii) changes in family structure. Some ways of testing the hypothesis and its implications are outlined.

Cultural Characteristics↗
PubMed1976

Methodologic problems of common terminology, measurement, and classification. 11. Modifications and new approaches to taxonomy in long-term care: advantages and limitations of the ICD.

The primary advantage of an internationally accepted classification of diseases is that data from different countries and parts of the world can be compared and even pooled. Two basic conditions have to be fulfilled if the classification is to be used by a heterogeneous group of users and the data are to be compared: there must exist significant agreement on the content of categories, and the categories must be used in the agreed sense. A brief description is given of a WHO project that has attempted to satisfy these two conditions in the field of mental disorders. Additionally, taxonomy in long-term care requires that a classification should 1) be multiaxial and include certain nondisease as well as disease factors that affect treatment and outcome; 2) be a classification of individuals rather than of diseases and reflect the presence of multiple conditions and degrees of severity; 3) allow linkage of episodes of illness and care in the same individual; 4) be suitable for use by nonmedical personnel, who often play a decisive role in long-term care; and 5) be accompanied by glossaries giving operational terms suitable for reliability and validity tests.

Classification↗