Biomedical subjects

L Kessing

Publications and source records attributed to L Kessing.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Validity of HoNOS in identifying frequently hospitalized patients with ICD-10 mental disorders.

OBJECTIVE: To identify frequently hospitalized patients by using the outcome and severity measure Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) in combination with the International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-10 in patients consecutively admitted to a psychiatric hospital. METHOD: All full-time in-patients and all day-hospital patients were considered. Frequently hospitalized patients were defined as those with 10 or more hospitalizations. RESULTS: The total HoNOS score at admission was found valid to discriminate between frequently and non-frequently hospitalized patients as well as in ranking the ICD-10 diagnosis by severity of symptoms and social problems. Frequently hospitalized patients were predominantly found within the diagnoses of schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorders. In these groups, high HoNOS scores were significantly associated with a longer stay in hospital. Improvement during hospitalization as measured by the HoNOS was significantly better for bipolar than for schizophrenic patients. CONCLUSION: HoNOS was found to be a clinically relevant supplement to ICD-10 in identifying frequently hospitalized patients.

Adult↗

PubMed1999

Tyrosine hydroxylase polymorphism and phenotypic heterogeneity in bipolar affective disorder: a multicenter association study.

Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH), the rate-limiting enzyme in the metabolism of catecholamines, is considered a candidate gene in bipolar affective disorder (BPAD) and has been the subject of numerous linkage and association studies. Taken together, most results do not support a major gene effect for the TH gene in BPAD. Genetic and phenotypic heterogeneity may partially explain the difficulty of confirming the exact role of this gene using both association and linkage methods. Four hundred one BPAD patients and 401 unrelated matched controls were recruited within a European collaborative project (BIOMED1 project in the area of brain research, European Community grant number CT 92-1217, project leader: J. Mendlewicz) involving 14 centers for a case-control association study with a tetranucleotide polymorphism in the TH gene. Patients and controls were carefully matched for geographical origin. Phenotypic heterogeneity was considered and subgroup analyses were performed with relevant variables: age at onset, family history, and diagnostic stability. No association was observed in the total sample or for subgroups according to age at onset (n = 172), family history alone (n = 159), or high degree of diagnostic stability and a positive family history (n = 131). The results of this association study do not confirm the possible implication of TH polymorphism in the susceptibility to BPAD.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

European Collaborative Project on Affective Disorders: interactions between genetic and psychosocial vulnerability factors.

Despite strong evidence provided by genetic epidemiology of genetic involvement in the aetiology of bipolar and unipolar affective disorders, the exact nature of the predisposing gene(s) is still being investigated through linkage and association studies. The interaction of susceptibility genes and environmental factors in these diseases is also of fundamental importance and requires proper investigation. Interesting theories have recently been proposed examining the possible role of various chromosomal regions, candidate genes and mutations in affective disorders. Reliable multicentre-based methodology is currently being employed to examine these theories, with attention given to statistical analysis and the statistical power of the sample. The present article describes the European Collaborative Project on Affective Disorders (ECPAD) 'Interactions between genetic and psychosocial vulnerability factors', involving 15 European centres. A description is given of the association and family samples collected for the project and also the methodology used to analyse interactions in the gene-psychosocial environment. This material provides a powerful tool in the search for susceptibility genes in affective disorders and takes into account non-genetic aetiological factors.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

Psychiatric morbidity after surgery for epilepsy: short-term follow up of patients undergoing amygdalohippocampectomy.

The aim was to assess the occurrence and type of psychiatric disorders of patients with medically intractable epilepsy in relation to surgical treatment, with special reference to amygdalohippocampectomy (AHE). The design was a retrospective psychiatric interview study, including Present State Examination (PSE) and diagnostic classification according to the International Classification of Diseases--8th revision (ICD-8) and ICD-10. Forty seven (94% of total) patients operated on between 1987 and mid-1991 in the Danish epilepsy surgery programme were studied. The main group of interest included 37 patients treated by AHE. The presence of psychiatric disorders before and after operation was assessed by PSE (including the Catego classification) and by ordinary clinical procedures, making use of all available information (hospital case notes and presurgical psychiatric assessments independent of the study). Four patients in the AHE group developed depressive disorders of various durations and severity after operation (in three (8%) patients these occurred de novo). One other patient with AHE with a presumed personality disorder who underwent AHE developed a severe depression, as did one patient after a lesionectomy. No patients developed new paranoid hallucinatory psychoses. No association was found between presence of psychiatric disorders and neither right sided cerebral dominance nor histopathological findings. In conclusion, the postoperative psychiatric morbidity in this sample of patients treated with AHE is of the same magnitude as described in recent series of patients undergoing temporal lobe resection for medically intractable epilepsy. Likewise, affective disorders (depressive conditions) constitute the most prominent psychiatric problem after surgery for epilepsy.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1994

HIV-induced stupor treated with ECT.

A 27-year-old man positive for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) presented with severe depressive stupor, peripheral neuropathy, and myelopathy. The onset of psychiatric symptoms, closely followed by neurological symptoms, without other possible somatic etiology suggests that HIV itself might precipitate psychosis. The patient was treated successfully with electroconvulsive therapy. The advantages and risks are discussed.

AIDS Dementia Complex↗