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Biomedical subjects

L Kaij

Publications and source records attributed to L Kaij.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1991

Anxiolytic-hypnotic drugs: relationships between prescribing, abuse and suicide.

In 1978 the third largest Swedish city, Malmö, known to have the highest suicide frequency in the country, was found to have a higher prescription rate (defined daily doses (DDD) per 1,000 inhabitants per day) of anxiolytic-hypnotic drugs (AHD) than the country, the corresponding county, other counties, and other cities, including the largest (Stockholm) and second largest (Göteborg = Gothenburg) cities. Barbiturate prescribing in Malmö was 40% higher than in Stockholm and 90% higher than in Göteborg, and the frequency of suicide due to barbiturates was three-times higher than in Göteborg. A small proportion (2.4% of all AHD-prescribing doctors) of private practitioners wrote a large percentage (24%) of all AHD prescriptions. Prescription surveillance and an information campaign in Malmö were accompanied by a 4-year decrease in AHD prescribing (12%), in AHD abuse (40%), in barbiturate prescribing (45%), and in barbiturate suicides (70%). The total suicide rate was reduced by 25%. There was no corresponding 4-year increase in suicide due to other drugs, or by other means, but after 5 to 7 years there was an increase in suicide by non-pharmacological means. The contribution of benzodiazepines to the frequency of suicide was very small, whereas their contribution to AHD abuse was considerable. In Göteborg, where no corresponding intervention was carried out, there was also a reduction in barbiturate prescribing (34%) and in barbiturate suicides (45%), but in contrast there was a continuous increase both in overall AHD and benzodiazepine prescribing, surpassing Malmö after 5 years. Far from a reduction there was a 7-year increase in the overall frequency of suicide. Apparently, AHD abuse and suicide can be greatly reduced by restricted prescribing of AHD, and this may but need not be accompanied by an increase in suicide by other means. Targeted drug information campaigns may assist in changing prescription patterns and their medical and social impact.

Anti-Anxiety Agents↗
PubMed1987

Swedish high-risk study: sample characteristics at age 6.

High-risk offspring of women with a history of nonorganic psychosis and control offspring of women with no history of psychosis were studied from the mother's pregnancy through 2 years of age and followed up at 6 years of age. The mothers tended to be older and have somewhat higher parity than did Swedish mothers in general. Sample attrition during the 6-year longitudinal period was significantly higher in the high-risk than the control sample, and selective in both groups. A limited set of early-life variables, investigated prospectively, was selected for studying the antecedents of mental disturbance in the offspring at 6 years. In the high-risk group, disturbance in the offspring was related to maternal anxiety during pregnancy, negative maternal attitude toward pregnancy, and maternal psychotic condition during the period from 6 months to 2 years post-partum, and tended to be related to low social class, male child, active maternal-mental disturbance during pregnancy, prolonged labor and low Apgar score at delivery, neonatal neurological abnormality, and anxious attachment to the mother at 1 year of age. None of these relationships (except low social class) appeared in the control group, and no significant antecedents of mental disturbance in control offspring were found among the limited set of variables studied in these analyses.

Bipolar Disorder↗
PubMed1986

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: mother-infant interaction at one year of age.

Mother-infant interaction during feeding and in an unstructured play situation was studied in the home at 1 year of age in 46 index mother-infant pairs in which the mother had a history of nonorganic psychosis and in 80 demographically similar control pairs. As was true at the five previous observation ages, some aspects of the interaction were significantly more negative in index than control pairs. Index mothers showed increased tension and uncertainty regarding the infant's needs, increased physical contact during feeding and a discrepancy between the intonation and content of the mother's verbal contact with the infant. Index infants did not differ from controls in behavior in interaction. Across the entire first year, the Cycloid and Schizophrenic mothers deviated most frequently from controls, while the Affectives' interaction was more negative than controls' for the first time at the 1-year observation.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: mother-infant interaction at three-and-a-half and six months of age.

Mother-infant interaction during feeding and in an unstructured play situation was studied in the home at 3.5 and 6 months of age in index mother-infant pairs in which the mother had a history of nonorganic psychosis (n = 48 and 52 at 3.5 and 6 months, respectively) and in demographically similar control pairs (n = 80 and 79). Interaction was significantly more negative in index than control cases at both ages, index cases showing decreased maternal and infant social contact and reduced maternal sensitivity to the infant's needs. Schizophrenic and Cycloid groups evidenced more negative interaction characteristics than did their matched controls, while the Affective group was not generally more negative than its controls.

Affective Disorders, Psychotic↗
PubMed1985

Development of a screening method for probable somatizing syndromes.

"Somatizing syndromes" is proposed to describe all conditions in which patients present with somatic complaints but without signs of organic disease. Fifty consecutive G.P. patients were given a Swedish version of the 52-item Illness Behaviour Questionnaire (IBQ) to test whether this questionnaire identifies those with signs of somatizing syndromes. The patients were also independently categorized by the G.P. into seven clinical groups reflecting the presence or absence of somatic disease, social/psychological problems and various combinations thereof. The test-retest reliability of the IBQ expressed as Pearson's r was 0.89. Patients presenting with concern over non-existing somatic disease and apparently unaware of any related psychological problem had significantly higher mean IBQ scores than did other patients. The IBQ was thus found to be a satisfactory instrument for primary identification of patients with probable somatizing syndromes.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: mother-infant interaction at three and six weeks of age.

Mother-infant interaction during feeding and in an unstructured play situation was studied in the home at 3 weeks and 6 weeks of age in index mother-infant pairs in which the mother had a history of nonorganic psychosis (n = 42 and 51 at 3 and 6 weeks, respectively) and in demographically similar control pairs (n = 60 and 78). At both ages, interaction was significantly more negative in index than control cases, index mothers showing increased tension and a lack of harmony, decreased social contact, and reduced sensitivity to the infant's needs. Fewer significant differences were found between index and control infants. Mothers in the Schizophrenic, Cycloid and Nonendogenous groups evidenced more negative interaction characteristics than did their matched controls, but the Affective group was not in any way more negative than its controls.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Women with nonorganic psychosis: mental disturbance during pregnancy.

Rates of mental disturbance during pregnancy were studied in 88 index women with a history of nonorganic psychosis and 104 demographically similar control women. The sources of information were the woman's own report at interview during pregnancy, the interviewer's assessment and, for index cases, psychiatric record notations relevant to the pregnancy period. Highly significantly increased rates of active mental disturbance were identified for index women, as compared with controls, based both on the woman's own report and on the interviewer's assessment. Most disturbed were women with a history of Schizophrenia, Cycloid, Postpartum and Other Psychoses, and only those index women with a history of Affective Illness did not differ from controls. Only one third of the index cases were in contact with a psychiatrist during pregnancy, and high rates of active mental disturbance were identified at interview even in those index women without psychiatric contact.

Affective Disorders, Psychotic↗
PubMed1984

Women with nonorganic psychosis: pregnancy's effect on mental health during pregnancy.

The effect of pregnancy on women's mental health during pregnancy was studied by interview with 88 pregnant index cases with a history of nonorganic psychosis and 104 demographically similar pregnant controls, and by psychiatric records for the subsample of index cases with relevant information. Controls generally reported experiencing no change or only a slight worsening of mental health due to pregnancy, while index differentially reported improved or considerably worsened health. In total, worsening was more common than improvement in the index cases, and especially in those with a history of Schizophrenic, Psychogenic, Postpartum and Other Psychoses. Psychiatric record information suggested predominantly more improvement in the subsample with information, but this bore little systematic relation to the same women's reports at interview during pregnancy.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1984

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: mother-infant interaction at three days of age.

Mother-infant interaction during a feeding was studied at about 3 days of age in 51 index mother-infant pairs in which the mother had a history of nonorganic psychosis and in 73 demographically similar control pairs. Interaction was significantly more negative and deviant in index than control cases, index mothers establishing a significantly more negative emotional climate and less harmony in feeding, evidencing more tension and uncertainty, and showing less social contact toward the infant. Index infants showed significantly less social contact toward the mother and index pairs less reciprocal visual contact than did controls. While the Schizophrenic, Cycloid and Nonendogenous Psychoses groups each differed from their matched controls on a number of variables, the Affective group was not in any way more negative than its controls on interaction.

Affective Disorders, Psychotic↗
PubMed1984

Women with nonorganic psychosis: factors associated with pregnancy's effect on mental health.

Pregnancy's effect on mental health during pregnancy was studied in relation to 17 variables representing the pregnant woman's demographic, social, material, physical and attitudinal characteristics, in an attempt to explain the highly varied effect of pregnancy on mental health which had been observed both among 88 index women with a history of nonorganic psychosis and among 104 demographically similar pregnant control women. Little explanation or predictability was found for the varied effect of pregnancy. Among index cases, only maternal age and the experienced effect of pregnancy on physical health were significantly related to its effect on mental health. In controls, the presence of material-situational problems and a negative/ambivalent initial reaction to pregnancy were each related to increased change in mental health, i.e. to both improvement and worsening in mental health associated with pregnancy.

Adult↗
PubMed1984

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: infant attachment to the mother at one year of age.

Attachment to the mother at 1 year of age was studied in 46 "high-risk" offspring of index mothers with a history of nonorganic psychosis and in 80 demographically similar control offspring. Attachment was measured in the home in a standardized manner by a modified version of Ainsworth's Strange Situation procedure. Three different patterns, representing "secure attachment" (Type B), "anxiously avoidant attachment" (Type A) and "anxiously ambivalent attachment" (Type C), were defined. While no significant difference on attachment type was found between the total index versus control group, a significantly increased rate of anxious attachment (A + C) was found for offspring of schizophrenics but no other diagnostic group. Attachment type was unrelated to index mothers' psychiatric hospitalization, psychotic status and known mental disturbance during the infants' first year of life, as well as to the infants' sex.

Female↗
PubMed1984

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychosis: fear of strangers during the first year of life.

Fear of strangers ( FOS ) during the infant's first year was studied in 46 "high-risk" offspring of index mothers with a history of nonorganic psychosis and in 80 demographically similar control offspring. FOS was measured in the home by a standardized test at 1 year of age and by repeated interviews with the mother during the first year. As compared with controls, the total index group, and the subgroups of offspring of mothers with Schizophrenia and Cycloid Psychosis, significantly more often showed a total absence of FOS in the test at 1 year, as well as during the entire first year. FOS at 1 year was unrelated both to serious active psychiatric disturbance in index mothers during the infant's first year of life, and the infant's sex, in index and control groups.

Fear↗
PubMed1983

Pregnant women with nonorganic psychosis: life situation and experience of pregnancy.

Eighty-eight index women with a history of nonorganic psychosis and 104 demographically similar control women were interviewed during pregnancy after quickening concerning their experience of pregnancy and their current life situation. The index group, compared with controls, reported a significantly increased frequency of material-situational problems, interpersonal difficulties and a lack of support for the pregnancy among the spouse and the woman's parents, an initially unplanned and undesired pregnancy, a negative attitude toward the pregnancy after quickening, moderate-to-heavy smoking, nervousness and anxiety, panic about the delivery, and great concern about their own mental health in the near future. No significant difference between groups was found on frequency of typical pregnancy symptoms, the experienced effect of pregnancy on physical health or concerns about the child's health or mothering.

Adult↗
PubMed1983

Offspring of women with nonorganic psychoses. Development of a longitudinal study of children at high risk.

This article describes the development of a prospective, longitudinal study of 88 "high-risk" offspring of pregnant index women with a history of nonorganic psychoses and 104 offspring of demographically-similar pregnant control women. The maternal psychoses represented the diagnostic categories, Schizophrenia, Cycloid Psychosis, Affective Illness, Psychogenic Psychosis, Postpartum Psychosis and Other (remaining) Psychoses. The first phase of the study began during pregnancy and continued until the offspring reached 2 years of age. Selected characteristics of the mothers, the offspring and their environments were investigated during this project phase.

Adult↗
PubMed1979

Etiological relevance of comparisons of high-risk and low-risk groups.

The prospective study of groups at high risk for pathology is viewed as an increasingly important strategy in research on the etiology and possible prevention of a wide range of disorders. Yet, relatively little attention has been paid to proper and improper etiological interpretations of results based on studies of such groups. The comparison of groups at high risk and low risk for pathology, prior to the development of relevant disturbances in the subjects, cannot provide evidence that a given factor or a characteristic of the groups does or does not contribute to the etiology of the disturbances which will develop in the subjects. For the data to become etiologically relevant, they must be studied as possible antecedents to disturbances identified by following up the subjects. On the other hand, comparisons of high-risk versus low-risk groups are most appropriately interpreted as reflecting the characteristics, correlates and/or consequences of the risk criterion, and such comparisons may thus contribute to better understanding of the true meaning and ramifications of the risk criterion. Considerable caution must be exercised both by high-risk researchers and by observers of high-risk studies in interpreting the significance of results of these studies.

Diseases in Twins↗
PubMed1976

Season of birth among siblings of schizophrenics. A test of the parental conception habits interpretation.

Many studies have shown schizophrenics to be born with unusual frequency in the period January-April, and one interpretation of this seasonality of birth is that the parents of schizophrenics have an unusually strong general tendency to conceive offspring who will be born in January-April. This parental conception habits interpretation may be tested by studying whether the siblings of schizophrenics are also born with increased frequency in January-April. The present study investigated the season of birth of 288 full siblings and 44 half-siblings in 91 families of male schizophrenics. Approximately 5% of the siblings were known to be schizophrenic; with the schizophrenic siblings excluded from the analyses, the full siblings showed a birth pattern much closer (nonsignificant) to that of the schizophrenics than to that of the general population. Half-siblings showed January-April birth rates at or below the population level. Although the mechanisms responsible for the current results still remain unclear, the study suggests that seasonality of births of schizophrenics may be related to the parents' conception habits as well as to an etiological or triggering effect on the development of schizophrenia in the offspring.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Birthrates of schizophrenics following relatively warm versus relatively cool summers.

Schizophrenics have consistently been found to be born with unusually high frequency in the early months of the calendar year. A previous study found significantly more schizophrenics to be born following warmer as contrasted with cooler summers, thus suggesting that summer temperature or a correlate of summer temperature may be an effective factor in the season of birth schizophrenia relationship. The current study re-tested the warmer vs. cooler summer finding, using both a local sample (N = 301) and a nationwide sample of Swedish schizophrenics (N = 13,440), each sample showing increased frequency of births in the early months of the year. In order to localize the possible effects of temperature to a more specific gestational period, the schizophrenics in each sample were further divided into sub-groups based upon which trimester of gestation likely occurred during the summer prior to the birth. The 71 years (1876-1946) during which the patients were born rank-ordered by mean summer temperature at representative geographical locations, and the rank-orders of years were divided into temperature quartiles. The rates of births for the total patient groups and the trimester sub-groups among both samples showed no positive linear or systematic relationship to temperature during the previous summer. Even the warmest among the 71 years were not followed by increased rates of births of schizophrenics. The results of the study did not corroborate the earlier finding.

Adult↗