PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

J Geddes

Publications and source records attributed to J Geddes.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Lithium versus antidepressants in the long-term treatment of unipolar affective disorder.

BACKGROUND: The main rationale for the use of lithium in the long-term treatment of unipolar affective disorder is its efficacy in treating bipolar affective disorder and resistant depression. However, there is considerable uncertainty about which pharmacological intervention is most effective in the long-term treatment of recurrent unipolar affective disorder. OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of lithium versus antidepressants for the long-term treatment of recurrent affective disorder. SEARCH STRATEGY: We searched the Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Controlled Trials Registers (CCDANCTR-Studies and CCDANCTR-References) on 2/9/2005. Reference lists of relevant papers and major textbooks of affective disorder were checked. Experts in the field and pharmaceutical companies were contacted regarding unpublished material. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials comparing lithium against antidepressant medication for the long-term treatment of patients with a diagnosis of affective disorder. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two authors independently assessed trial quality and extracted data. We contacted study authors for additional information. We collected adverse effects information from the trials. MAIN RESULTS: Eight trials involving 475 people were included. Two of the studies included a mixed group of participants with either bipolar or unipolar disorder. Relapse was defined as admission to hospital and when all kinds of relapses were considered (both depressive and manic), there was a statistically significant difference in favour of lithium (relative risk (RR) fixed effect 0.34, 95% CI 0.14 to 0.82). The results did not exclude the point of no effect, when the random-effects model was used (RR random effects 0.40, 95% CI 0.14 to 1.18). There were no other statistically significant differences between lithium and antidepressants according to all other outcomes considered. Manic or depressive relapse was defined as prescription of non-study medication for mood disorder, manic or depressive relapse (as defined by the study authors), quality of life, social functioning, occupational functioning, overall drop-out rate, drop-out rate due to side-effects, troublesome side-effects, mortality due to all causes and specifically suicides. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There was adequate efficacy evidence for lithium or antidepressants preventing relapse in unipolar affective disorder, however their relative efficacy was unknown. When considering lithium or antidepressant long-term therapy, patients and clinicians should take into account the patient's clinical history, the side-effects and the individual's likely adherence to the recommended treatment regime. Large-scale, long-term randomised trials in unselected groups of subjects with unipolar affective disorder are needed.

Antidepressive Agents↗
PubMed2006

Young adults with Type 1 diabetes in tertiary education: do students receive adequate specialist care?

AIMS: To examine the clinical characteristics of, and diabetes management provided for, young people with Type 1 diabetes in tertiary education. METHODS: The medical case records of a group of 55 students aged 18-24 years, all of whom had Type 1 diabetes and had been referred to a hospital diabetes clinic, were examined. RESULTS: A mean (SD) attendance of 80% (28%) was observed for all clinic appointments. Despite greater use of intensified insulin therapy (increasing from 37% to 83%) of students neither mean HbA1c nor mean body mass index changed significantly. Microvascular complications were infrequent. Documentation in the case notes of the frequency of home blood glucose monitoring was inadequate in 25% of patients as was the recorded frequency of mild (self-treated) hypoglycaemia in (20%) of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Despite a satisfactory frequency of clinic attendance and organisation of insulin regimens by medical staff, glycaemic control remained unchanged throughout University attendance. The inadequate documentation of dietary habits, frequency of home blood glucose monitoring, hypoglycaemia, social habits and activities in both groups may provide a partial explanation, as other variables were not addressed. Young adults with Type 1 diabetes may benefit from receiving specialist care in a clinic dedicated to their particular needs.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2005

Pharmacological treatment for psychotic depression.

BACKGROUND: Regarding the pharmacological treatment of psychotic depression there is uncertainty about the effectiveness of an antidepressant alone compared to the combination of an antidepressant and an antipsychotic. OBJECTIVES: To compare the clinical effectiveness of pharmacological treatments for patients with a psychotic depression: antidepressant monotherapy, antipsychotic monotherapy, and the combination of an antidepressant and an antipsychotic, compared with each other and/or with placebo. SEARCH STRATEGY: (1) The Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) was screened with the terms depressive disorder and drug treatment (April 2004). (2) MEDLINE (1966 to April 2004) and EMBASE (1980 to April 2004) were searched using terms with regard to treatment of unipolar psychotic depression.(3) Reference lists of related reviews and reference lists of all identified studies were searched.(4) Personal communications. SELECTION CRITERIA: All randomised controlled trials (RCTs) with patients with major depression with psychotic features as well as RCTs with patients with major depression with or without psychotic features which reported on the subgroup of patients with psychotic features separately. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers assessed the methodological quality of the included studies, according to the Cochrane Handbook criteria. Data were entered into RevMan 4.2.5. We used intention-to-treat data. For dichotomous efficacy outcomes, the relative risk with 95% confidence intervals (CI) was calculated. For continuously distributed outcomes, it was not possible to extract data from the RCTs. Regarding the primary harm outcome, only overall drop-out rates were available for all studies. MAIN RESULTS: The search identified 3333 abstracts, but only 10 RCTs with a total of 548 patients could be included in the review. Due to clinical heterogeneity, few meta-analyses were possible. We found no conclusive evidence that the combination of an antidepressant and an antipsychotic is more effective than an antidepressant alone (two RCTs; RR 1.44, 95% CI 0.86 to 2.41), but a combination is more effective than an antipsychotic alone (three RCTs; RR 1.92, 95% CI 1.32 to 2.80). There were no statistically significant differences in the overall drop-out rates between any of the treatments, neither in individual studies nor after pooling of studies. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: Treatment with an antipsychotic alone is not a good option. Starting with an antidepressant alone and adding an antipsychotic if the patient does not respond or starting with the combination of an antidepressant and an antipsychotic both appear appropriate options for patients with psychotic depression. In clinical practice the balance between risks and benefits suggests that initial antidepressive monotherapy and adding an antipsychotic if there is inadequate response should be the preferred treatment strategy for many patients. The general lack of available data limits confidence in the conclusions drawn.

Antidepressive Agents↗
PubMed2005

Fluoxetine versus other types of pharmacotherapy for depression.

BACKGROUND: Depression is common in primary care and it is associated with marked personal, social and economic morbidity, and creates significant demands on service providers in terms of workload. Treatment is predominantly pharmaceutical or psychological. Fluoxetine, the first of a group of antidepressant (AD) agents known as selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), has been studied in many randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in comparison with tricyclic (TCA), heterocyclic and related ADs, and other SSRIs. These comparative studies provided contrasting findings. In addition, systematic reviews of RCTs have always considered the SSRIs as a group, and evidence applicable to this group of drugs might not be applicable to fluoxetine alone. The present systematic review assessed the efficacy and tolerability profile of fluoxetine in comparison with TCAs, SSRIs and newer agents. OBJECTIVES: To determine the efficacy of fluoxetine, compared with other ADs, in alleviating the acute symptoms of depression, and to review its acceptability. SEARCH STRATEGY: Relevant studies were located by searching the Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Controlled Trials Register (CCDANCTR), the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), Medline (1966-2004) and Embase (1974-2004). Non-English language articles were included. SELECTION CRITERIA: Only RCTs were included. For trials which have a crossover design only results from the first randomisation period were considered. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were independently extracted by two reviewers using a standard form. Responders to treatment were calculated on an intention-to-treat basis: drop-outs were always included in this analysis. When data on drop-outs were carried forward and included in the efficacy evaluation, they were analysed according to the primary studies; when dropouts were excluded from any assessment in the primary studies, they were considered as treatment failures. Scores from continuous outcomes were analysed including patients with a final assessment or with the last observation carried forward. Tolerability data were analysed by calculating the proportion of patients who failed to complete the study and who experienced adverse reactions out of the total number of randomised patients. The primary analyses used a fixed effects approach, and presented Peto Odds Ratio (PetoOR) and Standardised Mean Difference (SMD). MAIN RESULTS: On a dichotomous outcome fluoxetine was less effective than dothiepin (PetoOR: 2.09, 95% CI 1.08 to 4.05), sertraline (PetoOR: 1.40, 95% CI 1.11 to 1.76), mirtazapine (PetoOR: 1.64, 95% CI 1.01 to 2.65) and venlafaxine (Peto OR: 1.40, 95% CI 1.15 to 1.70). On a continuous outcome, fluoxetine was more effective than ABT-200 (Standardised Mean Difference (SMD) random effects: - 1.85, 95% CI - 2.25 to - 1.45) and milnacipran (SMD random effects: - 0.38, 95% CI - 0.71 to - 0.06); conversely, it was less effective than venlafaxine (SMD random effect: 0.11, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.23), however these figures were of borderline statistical significance. Fluoxetine was better tolerated than TCAs considered as a group (PetoOR: 0.78, 95% CI 0.68 to 0.89), and was better tolerated in comparison with individual ADs, in particular than amitriptyline (PetoOR: 0.64, 95% CI 0.47 to 0.85) and imipramine (PetoOR: 0.79, 95% CI 0.63 to 0.99), and among newer ADs than ABT-200 (PetoOR: 0.21, 95% CI 0.10 to 0.41), pramipexole (PetoOR: 0.20, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.47) and reboxetine (PetoOR: 0.61, 95% CI 0.40 to 0.94). AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: There are statistically significant differences in terms of efficacy and tolerability between fluoxetine and certain ADs, but the clinical meaning of these differences is uncertain, and no definitive implications for clinical practice can be drawn. From a clinical point of view the analysis of antidepressants' safety profile (adverse effect and suicide risk) remains of crucial importance and more reliable data about these outcomes are needed. Waiting for more robust evidence, treatment decisions should be based on considerations of clinical history, drug toxicity, patient acceptability, and cost. We need for large, pragmatic trials, enrolling heterogeneous populations of patients with depression to generate clinically relevant information on the benefits and harms of competitive pharmacological options. A meta-analysis of individual patient data from the randomised trials is clearly necessary.

Antidepressive Agents↗
PubMed2005

Normoglycaemia in acute renal failure--a difficult diagnosis of diabetes.

We report diagnostic difficulties in a case of diabetes mellitus presenting as acute on chronic renal failure with normoglycaemia. A renal biopsy indicated diabetic nephropathy; she developed hyperglycaemia following the institution of haemodialysis. It is important to remember that diabetic patients may have normal blood glucose concentrations in renal failure. In a patient with undiagnosed diabetes mellitus presenting with acute on chronic renal failure, choice of diagnostic biochemical test for diabetes may be difficult.

Acute Kidney Injury↗
PubMed2004

Inositol for depressive disorders.

BACKGROUND: There are a number of effective interventions for the treatment of depression. It is possible that the efficacy of these treatments will be improved further by the use of adjunctive therapies such as inositol. OBJECTIVES: 1. To determine the effectiveness of inositol in the treatment of depression.2. To determine the adverse effects and acceptability of treatment with inositol. SEARCH STRATEGY: The Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CCTR), The Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Controlled Trials Register (CCDANCTR) incorporating results of group searches of EMBASE, MEDLINE, LILACS, CINAHL, PSYNDEX and PsycLIT were searched. Reference lists of relevant papers and major textbooks of affective disorder were checked. Experts in the field and pharmaceutical companies were contacted regarding unpublished material. SELECTION CRITERIA: All randomised controlled trials that compare treatment with inositol, whether as monotherapy or adjunctive therapy, to an alternative treatment, whether another antidepressant medication or placebo, for patients with a diagnosis of depressive disorder (diagnosed according to explicit criteria). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were independently extracted from the original reports by two reviewers. Statistical analysis was conducted using Review Manager version 4.2.1. MAIN RESULTS: Four trials were identified, with a total of 141 participants. These were short term trials of double-blind design. The trials did not show clear evidence of a therapeutic benefit, nor any evidence of poor acceptability. REVIEWERS' CONCLUSIONS: It is currently unclear whether or not inositol is of benefit in the treatment of depression. Ongoing studies should reduce this uncertainty.

Antidepressive Agents↗
PubMed2004

Dramatic response of malignant craniopharyngioma to cis-platin-based chemotherapy. Should craniopharyngioma be considered as a suprasellar 'germ cell' tumour?

The case is described of a 21-year-old woman, who developed a malignant tumour arising from a craniopharyngioma 14 years after the original diagnosis. The remarkable response of this malignant tumour ex-craniopharyngioma to cis-platin based chemotherapy, together with other midline tumour characteristics of craniopharyngioma, raise the question as to whether craniopharyngioma should any longer be separately considered from suprasellar germ cell tumour. This subject is discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2003

Folate for depressive disorders.

BACKGROUND: There are a number of effective interventions for the treatment of depression. It is possible that the efficacy of these treatments will be improved further by the use of adjunctive therapies such as folate. OBJECTIVES: 1. To determine the effectiveness of folate in the treatment of depression 2. To determine the adverse effects and acceptability of treatment with folate. SEARCH STRATEGY: The Cochrane Controlled Trials Register (CCTR), and the Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Controlled Trials Register (CCDANCTR) incorporating results of group searches of EMBASE, MEDLINE, LILACS, CINAHL, PSYNDEX and PsycLIT were searched. Reference lists of relevant papers and major textbooks of affective disorder were checked. Experts in the field and pharmaceutical companies were contacted regarding unpublished material. SELECTION CRITERIA: All randomised controlled trials that compared treatment with folic acid or 5'-methyltetrahydrofolic acid to an alternative treatment, whether another antidepressant medication or placebo, for patients with a diagnosis of depressive disorder (diagnosed according to explicit criteria). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were independently extracted from the original reports by two reviewers. Statistical analysis was conducted using Review Manager version 4.1. MAIN RESULTS: Three trials involving 247 people were included. Two studies involving 151 people assessed the use of folate in addition to other treatment, and found that adding folate reduced Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores on average by a further 2.65 points (95% confidence interval 0.38 to 4.93). Fewer patients treated with folate experienced a reduction in their HDRS score of less than 50% at ten weeks (relative risk (RR) 0.47, 95% CI 0.24 to 0.92) The number needed to treat with folate for one additional person to experience a 50% reduction on this scale was 5 (95% confidence interval 4 to 33). One study involving 96 people assessed the use of folate instead of the antidepressant trazodone and did not find a significant benefit from the use of folate. The trials identified did not find evidence of any problems with the acceptability or safety of folate. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: The limited available evidence suggests folate may have a potential role as a supplement to other treatment for depression. It is currently unclear if this is the case both for people with normal folate levels, and for those with folate deficiency.

Antidepressive Agents↗
PubMed2002

Psychological treatments in schizophrenia: II. Meta-analyses of randomized controlled trials of social skills training and cognitive remediation.

BACKGROUND: Social skills training and cognitive remediation are psychological techniques with considerable face validity for the treatment of negative symptoms of schizophrenia and their consequences. This paper provides a meta-analytical review of these treatments. It includes an appreciable number of randomized controlled trials, using comparisons against both standard care and other active interventions. However, the assessment of particular outcomes sometimes had to be based on single studies. METHOD: A detailed search strategy was used to identify randomized controlled trials of social skills training and cognitive remediation, primarily employing electronic databases. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that met predefined criteria were then subjected to meta-analysis on a variety of outcome measures. RESULTS: There was no clear evidence for any benefits of social skills training on relapse rate, global adjustment, social functioning, quality of life or treatment compliance. Cognitive remediation had no benefit on attention, verbal memory, visual memory, planning, cognitive flexibility or mental state. CONCLUSIONS: Social skills training and cognitive remediation do not appear to confer reliable benefits for patients with schizophrenia and cannot be recommended for clinical practice.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

Psychological treatments in schizophrenia: I. Meta-analysis of family intervention and cognitive behaviour therapy.

BACKGROUND: While there is a growing body of evidence on the efficacy of psychological interventions for schizophrenia, this meta-analysis improves upon previous systematic and meta-analytical reviews by including a wider range of randomized controlled trials and providing comparisons against both standard care and other active interventions. METHOD: Literature searches identified randomized controlled trials of four types of psychological interventions: family intervention, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), social skills training and cognitive remediation. These were then subjected to meta-analysis on a variety of outcome measures. This paper presents results relating to the first two. RESULTS: Family therapy, in particular single family therapy, had clear preventative effects on the outcomes of psychotic relapse and readmission, in addition to benefits in medication compliance. CBT produced higher rates of 'important improvement' in mental state and demonstrated positive effects on continuous measures of mental state at follow-up. CBT also seems to be associated with low drop-out rates. CONCLUSIONS: Family intervention should be offered to people with schizophrenia who are in contact with carers. CBT may be useful for those with treatment resistant symptoms. Both treatments, in particular CBT, should be further investigated in large trials across a variety of patients, in various settings. The factors mediating treatment success in these interventions should be researched.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2002

A systematic review of the use of atypical antipsychotics in autism.

Conventional antipsychotic medication is commonly prescribed to patients with autistic spectrum disorder. However, a high incidence of severe adverse reactions highlights the need to find more favourable treatments. Atypical antipsychotics may combine efficacy in ameliorating some autistic symptoms with a lower incidence of some adverse reactions. This article reviews the use of atypical antipsychotics in autistic disorder, with particular focus on behaviour, cognition and physical well-being. Thirteen studies using risperidone, three using olanzapine, one using clozapine, one using amisulpride and one using quetiapine were identified. Few firm conclusions can be drawn due to the limitations of the studies; however, there is an indication that risperidone may be effective in reducing hyperactivity, aggression and repetitive behaviours, often without inducing severe adverse reactions. Olanzapine and clozapine may also be effective; however, there is little evidence for using amisulpride or quetiapine in this population. Randomized trials are required to clarify the effectiveness of these agents.

Antipsychotic Agents↗
PubMed2001

Lithium for maintenance treatment of mood disorders.

BACKGROUND: Mood disorders are common, disabling and tend to be recurrent. They carry a high risk of suicide. Maintenance treatment, aimed at the prevention of relapse, is therefore of vital importance. Lithium has been used for some years as the mainstay of maintenance treatment in bipolar affective disorder, and to a lesser extent in unipolar disorder. However, the efficacy and effectiveness of prophylactic lithium therapy has been disputed. Low suicide rates in lithium-treated patients have led to claims that lithium has a specific anti-suicidal effect. If so, this is of considerable importance as treatments for mental disorders in general have not been shown convincingly to be effective in suicide prevention. OBJECTIVES: 1. To investigate the efficacy of lithium treatment in the prevention of relapse in recurrent mood disorders. 2. To examine the effect of lithium treatment on consumers' general health and social functioning, its acceptability to consumers, and the side-effects of treatment. 3. To investigate the hypothesis that lithium has a specific effect in reducing the incidence of suicide and deliberate self-harm in persons with mood disorders. SEARCH STRATEGY: The Cochrane Collaboration Depression, Anxiety and Neurosis Controlled Trials Register (CCDANCTR) and The Cochrane Controlled Clinical Trials Register (CCTR) were searched. Reference lists of relevant papers and major text books of mood disorder were examined. Authors, other experts in the field and pharmaceutical companies were contacted for knowledge of suitable trials, published or unpublished. Specialist journals concerning lithium were hand searched. SELECTION CRITERIA: Randomised controlled trials comparing lithium with placebo, where the stated intent of treatment was maintenance or prophylaxis. Participants were males and females of all ages with diagnoses of mood disorder. Discontinuation studies (in which all participants had been stable on lithium for some time before being randomised to either continued lithium treatment or placebo substitution) were excluded. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Data were extracted from the original reports independently by two reviewers. The main outcomes studied were related to the objectives stated above. Data were analysed for all diagnoses of mood disorder and for bipolar and unipolar disorder separately. Data were analysed using Review Manager version 4.0. MAIN RESULTS: Nine studies were included in the review, reporting on 825 participants randomly allocated to lithium or placebo. Lithium was found to be more effective than placebo in preventing relapse in mood disorder overall, and in bipolar disorder. The most consistent effect was found in bipolar disorder (random effects OR 0.29; 95% CI 0.09 to 0.93 ). In unipolar disorder, the direction of effect was in favour of lithium, but the result (when heterogeneity between studies was allowed for) did not reach statistical significance. Considerable heterogeneity was found between studies in all groups of patients. The direction of effect was the same in all studies; no study found a negative effect for lithium. Heterogeneity may have been due to differences in selection of participants, and to differing exposures to lithium in the pre-study phase resulting in variable influence of a discontinuation effect. There was little reported data on overall health and social functioning of participants under the different treatment conditions, or on the participants' own views of their treatment. Descriptive analysis showed that assessments of general health and social functioning generally favoured lithium. Small absolute numbers of deaths and suicides, and the absence of data on non-fatal suicidal behaviours, made it impossible to draw meaningful conclusions about the place of lithium therapy in suicide prevention. REVIEWER'S CONCLUSIONS: This systematic review indicates that lithium is an efficacious maintenance treatment for bipolar disorder. In unipolar disorder the evidence of efficacy is less robust. This review does not cover the relative efficacy of lithium compared with other maintenance treatments, which is at present unclear. There is no definitive evidence from this review as to whether or not lithium has an anti-suicidal effect. Systematic reviews and large scale randomised studies comparing lithium with other maintenance treatments (e.g. anti-convulsants, antidepressants) are necessary. Outcomes relating to death and suicidal behaviour should be included in all future maintenance studies of mood disorder.

Antimanic Agents↗
PubMed2001

Recent advances in evidence-based psychiatry.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing interest in the potential contribution of evidence-based medicine to clinical decision making in psychiatry. In this article, we describe some of the recent advances in evidence-based psychiatry and outline future challenges. METHOD: Narrative review. CONTENT: The successful introduction of evidence-based practice into psychiatry requires the acquisition of new skills by clinicians. It is also important that policy statements that aim to be evidence-based, such as clinical practice guidelines, use rigorous methods to synthesize the primary evidence and do not overlook its limitations. One result of the systematic reviewing of evidence is the identification of important residual clinical uncertainties. Primary research can then be focused on these questions. For questions regarding therapy in psychiatry, it will be necessary to undertake some large, simple randomized trials. Making the best available evidence readily accessible in a clinical setting, however, remains a significant challenge. CONCLUSIONS: Collaboration between clinicians, researchers, policy-makers, and those involved in information technology is required to optimize the contribution of evidence-based medicine in psychiatry.

Culture↗
PubMed2001

Pituitary chondrosarcoma: an unusual cause of a sellar mass presenting as a pituitary adenoma.

A 37-yr-old woman with clinical, endocrinological, and radiological features suggestive of a nonfunctioning pituitary tumor was found to have a chondrosarcoma of the pituitary sella. The bony structures around the sella were relatively uninvolved, other than showing minor erosion of the left side of the dorsum and the posterior wall of the sphenoid sinus. After partial resection of the tumor by the transsphenoidal route the patient received postoperative radiosurgery by a linear accelerator, stereotactic multiarc radiotherapy. Subsequent follow-up revealed reduction of the residual tumor. This case demonstrates that a chondrosarcoma may apparently arise directly from the pituitary fossa and suggests the efficacy of stereotactic radiosurgery, at least in the medium term. The origin, areas of involvement, management, and long-term prognosis of these rare tumors are reviewed.

Adenoma↗
PubMed2001

Primary care in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Health care and health status in general practice ambulatory care centres.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the health care and health status of patients attending primary care clinics in Bosnia and Herzegovina. DESIGN: Assisted administration patient survey. SETTING: Two ambulatory care clinics (ambulantas) in each of three cities in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Tuzla, Mostar, and Banja Luka. PARTICIPANTS: Patients attending the ambulantas during a 1-week period in March 1999; 885 answered questionnaires. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Each patient listed demographic characteristics and answered questions on satisfaction with health care and with the physical and financial accessibility of health care services and medications. A validated health status questionnaire (EuroQoL), previously used in parts of the former Yugoslavia, was administered. RESULTS: Only 22% of patients were employed; 57% could not pay the nominal fee to see a physician; 71% walked to the clinic; mean distance from patients' homes to the clinics was 2.3 km; 63% could not get the medications prescribed (in 85% of cases because of cost, not availability); 80% to 90% of answers to satisfaction questions suggested high satisfaction with the care patients received from their doctors; 67% of the time patients were referred to a specialist by general practitioners; 33% had problems walking; 17% had problems with self-care; 36% had problems with usual daily activities; 72% had at least some pain or discomfort; and 62% described at least some anxiety or depression. The three cities showed significant differences; patients in Tuzla generally had lower health status and more problems with health care. CONCLUSION: Unemployment and financial considerations reduced health care access in Bosnia and Herzegovina. While only one third of patients had physical difficulties, two thirds had emotional problems or pain. Satisfaction with physicians' care was high.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Bipolar disorder: clinical uncertainty, evidence-based medicine and large-scale randomised trials.

Background The increasing use of the methods of evidence-based medicine to keep up-to-date with the research literature highlights the absence of high-quality evidence in many areas in psychiatry. Aims To outline current uncertainties in the maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder and to describe some of the decisions involved in designing a large simple trial. Method We describe some of the strategies of evidence-based medicine, and how they can be applied in practice, focusing specifically on the area of bipolar disorder. Results One of the key clinical uncertainties in the treatment of bipolar disorder is the place of maintenance drug treatments and their relative efficacy. A large-scale study, the Bipolar Affective DISORDER: Lithium Anticonvulsant Evaluation (BALANCE) trial, is proposed to compare the effectiveness of lithium, valproate and the combination of lithium and valproate. Conclusions Providing reliable answers to key clinical questions in psychiatry will require new approaches to clinical trials. These will need to be far larger than previously appreciated and will therefore need to be collaborative ventures involving front-line clinicians.

Journal Article↗