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Biomedical subjects

J Angst

Publications and source records attributed to J Angst.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

[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↗

[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↗

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↗

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↗

[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↗

[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↗

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↗

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↗

[Interrater reliability of amp symptoms (author's transl)].

Two psychiatrists examined 48 patients (25 depressed and 23 schizophrenic). Each documented the symptoms on AMP sheets 3 (psychopathologic symptoms) and 4 (somatic signs, first column only). The study deals with 139 AMP symptoms. Seventy could be judged concerning symptom exists/does not exist. Of these 70 symptoms, 45 showed a good or moderate interrater reliability. Specific symptoms had a better reliability than nonspecific. Symptoms described by the patients had a better reliability than those judged by the doctor alone. The results indicate that expanded use of the AMP system in its present form is problematic. Work on a new version of the AMP system has already begun.

Anxiety↗

Double-blind comparison of bromperidol and perphenazine.

Within the scope of a clinical double-blind study, effects and side effects of Bromperidol and Perphenazine were compared. Forty newly-hospitalized schizophrenic patients were included in the trial. Assessments were made on days 0, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 30. Data were documented by means of the AMP system, the EPRS scale of Simpson and Angus, and a Brief Ward Behaviour Rating Scale. Laboratory tests and ECGs were performed before and after treatment. Treatment was scheduled for 30 days and dosages were established depending on effects and side effects. We found a therapeutic effective mean daily dose of 6 mg for Bromperidol and 20 mg for Perphenazine. Both substances caused autonomic and extrapyramidal side effects and, in a few patients, temproary fatigue. The employed dosage caused no strong sedation. To sum up, Bromperidol and Perphenazine can be described as highly potent and well tolerated antipsychotic drugs. We observed stronger efficacy and earlier onset of action with Bromperidol. The superior effect of Bromperidol cannot be explained by a higher dosage as compared with Perphenazine, since both substances showed a similar severity of extrapyramidal side effects, and the dosage of both substances was established individually for each patient, depending on effects and side effects.

Adult↗

[The epidemiology of drug, cigarette and alcohol consumption in young men].

In view of the recent rise in drug consumption, a 3-year longitudinal study of 19-year-old men was conducted to investigate development of consumption behavior. Consumption of cigarettes and alcohol was also considered. The aim was to obtain information about the development of consumption by 19-year-old men (increase, decrease, etc). The follow-up sample consisted of 841 men in the Canton of Zurich who had been selected from a complete survey of men born in 1952. They answered a questionnaire at the age of 19 and again three years later. The results show that drug, cigarette and alcohol show a different development of consumption in the ages between 19 and 22 years. The percentage of drug consumers had decreased from 23.3 percent to 14.8 percent. In approximately 4 percent there is a high risk of dependence in addition to absence of social integration. The percentage of cigarette smokers did not change (approximately 53 percent), but the number of cigarettes smoked per day increased. For alcohol there is a general increase in consumption. For all three substances, heavy consumption at the age of 19 increases the risk of heavy consumption at the age of 22.

Adult↗

The treatment of depression with L-5-hydroxytryptophan versus imipramine. Results of two open and one double-blind study.

In the last few years several open studies supported the hypothesis that L-5-HTP may be an effective antidepressant. Because of the lack of a controlled double-blind trial we started our own investigations to confirm this hypothesis in L-5-HTP. In 1972 we performed two open dose finding trials with L-5-HTP in combination with Benzerazide. These open studies were followed by a double-blind trial comparing L-5-HTP in combination with Benzerazide to Imipramine in 30 patients. Assessments were carried out on day 0, 5, 10, 15 and 20. For data collection we used the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression, the AMP-system, a Global Rating Scale of Severity of Depression and a Brief Rating Scale for the Behaviour on the ward. In this article we report only a part of the results, mainly on the findings with the AMP-system and the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression. During our double-blind trial we could not find any significant difference in efficacy of L-5-HTP and Imipramine. The same was found in an open trial. Furthermore the L-5-HTP results showed no difference compared with the results of an Imipramine treatment in 40 patients in earlier double-blind studies. L-5-HTP and Imipramine caused different patterns of side effects. L-5-HTP caused mainly gastrointestinal side effects and Imipramine caused mainly dryness of the mouth and tremor. The gastrointestinal side effects caused by L-5-HTP seemed to be dose dependent.

5-Hydroxytryptophan↗