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Biomedical subjects

Karen Searcey

Publications and source records attributed to Karen Searcey.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2006

Health-related quality of life and psychosocial characteristics of patients with benign essential blepharospasm.

OBJECTIVE: To examine vision-targeted health-related quality of life and psychosocial characteristics in patients with benign essential blepharospasm (BEB) compared with patients with hemifacial spasm (HFS). METHODS: Persons with BEB (n = 159) or HFS (n = 91) were identified based on International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modifications codes with subsequent verification by record abstraction. Information regarding demographics, health characteristics, disease characteristics, and vision-targeted health-related quality of life was obtained through a telephone interview. RESULTS: For patients with BEB and HFS, the composite scores and subscale scores on the 25-item National Eye Institute Visual Function Questionnaire (NEI-VFQ-25) were low. Compared with patients with HFS, patients with BEB reported more depressive symptoms (P = .03), met the criteria for generalized anxiety disorder (P = .007), had lower NEI-VFQ-25 composite scores (P<.001), and had lower NEI-VFQ-25 subscale scores regarding general vision (P = .03), ocular pain (P<.001), distance activities (P = .001), driving (P<.001), and all of the vision-specific subscales addressing psychosocial issues. CONCLUSIONS: Compared with patients with HFS, those with BEB experience a greater reduction in vision-targeted health-related quality of life and are more prone to symptoms of depression and anxiety. This underscores the inadequacy of current treatment options for BEB in light of the fact that these patients had been undergoing standard-of-care treatments for some time.

Aged↗
PubMed2006

Perceived barriers to care and attitudes about vision and eye care: focus groups with older African Americans and eye care providers.

PURPOSE: To identify by using focus group methods the perceived barriers to eye care and attitudes about vision and eye care among older African Americans as well as among ophthalmologists and optometrists serving their communities. METHODS: Seventeen focus groups of older African Americans residing in the Birmingham or Montgomery, Alabama, areas were led by an experienced facilitator. Discussion was stimulated by a semistructured script focused on their perceived barriers to eye care and attitudes about vision and eye care. Six focus groups of ophthalmologists and optometrists who practiced in this geographic region addressed the same topics. Discussion was audiotaped and transcribed. Comments were coded using a multistep content analysis protocol. RESULTS: One hundred nineteen African Americans (age range, 59-97 years) and 35 eye care providers (51% ophthalmologists, 49% optometrists) participated. The barrier-to-care problem most frequently cited by both African Americans and eye care providers was transportation. The next most common problems mentioned by African Americans were trusting the doctor, communicating with the doctor, and the cost of eye care; and for eye care providers, the next most common problems were cost, trust, and insurance. With respect to older African Americans' comments on their attitudes about vision and eye care, these comments were predominantly positive (69%), highlighting the importance of eye care and behavior in their lives and attitudes that facilitated care. However, when eye care providers relayed their impressions of African Americans' attitudes about vision and eye care, their comments were largely negative (74%) centering on concerns and frustrations that older African Americans did not have attitudes or engage in behavior that facilitate eye care. CONCLUSIONS: These results provide some guidance for the design of interventions to increase the use of routine eye care in this population. At a societal level, there is a need for affordable and accessible transportation services for older African Americans seeking eye care. For ophthalmologists, optometrists, and their staffs, there is a need for continuing education that imparts culturally sensitive and age-appropriate communication and trust-building skills for interactions with this population. In addition to reinforcing the generally positive attitudes of older African Americans toward the importance of eye care, community-based educational programs should be focused on strategies for overcoming the common barriers to care.

Black or African American↗
PubMed2005

Benign essential blepharospasm: risk factors with reference to hemifacial spasm.

BACKGROUND: To identify risk factors associated with benign essential blepharospasm (BEB) with reference to hemifacial spasm (HFS). Persons with BEB and HFS experience similar physical symptoms, yet the two disorders have different etiologies. METHODS: Patients with BEB (n = 159) or HFS (n = 91) were identified from two large neuro-ophthalmology clinics. Demographic, medical, behavioral, and psychological characteristics were obtained from chart review and a telephonic survey questionnaire. RESULTS: The average age of BEB and HFS was 66 years. Most patients in both groups were retired, white, and female. BEB patients were more than two times as likely to meet the diagnostic criteria for generalized anxiety disorder than HFS patients (odds ratio, 2.13; 95% confidence interval, 1.22-3.72). There was no difference between the two groups regarding demographics, smoking, a family history of dystonia, Parkinson disease, Bell palsy, Tourette disorder, obsessive compulsive symptoms, history of head trauma, alcohol use, or caffeine consumption. CONCLUSIONS: As compared to HFS, BEB was significantly more often associated with generalized anxiety disorder. Given the similarity of other clinical features of these two disorders, it is reasonable to conclude that anxiety is a cause not a consequence of BEB. Contrary to previous studies, BEB was not associated with obsessive-compulsive symptoms, head trauma, Parkinson disease, Bell palsy, Tourette disorder, or lack of smoking.

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