PubMed Health⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

M E Dewey

Publications and source records attributed to M E Dewey.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1992

Pterin metabolism in depression: an extension of the amine hypothesis and possible marker of response to ECT.

Urinary excretion of neopterins and biopterins was measured in 23 patients with severe depression before and after receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and 26 healthy control subjects. Patients with psychotic depression and those responding to ECT had neopterin:biopterin (N:B) ratio significantly higher than controls before commencing ECT and positive therapeutic response was associated with reduction of N:B ratio towards control values. As a raised N:B ratio implies failure to convert neopterin to biopterin it is possible that reduced availability of tetrahydrobiopterin, the essential cofactor for the formation of noradrenaline, serotonin and dopamine, may exert rate limiting control over the synthesis of monoamines implicated in the pathogenesis of depressive disorders. The N:B ratio may be a marker for certain depressive subtypes and response to ECT.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Risk factors for depression in elderly people: a prospective study.

In 1982-1983 a random sample of 1486 people aged 65 years and above was generated from general practitioner lists; 1070 were interviewed in the community using the Geriatric Mental State and a Social History questionnaire. The cohort was followed up by interview 3 years later. At year 3 the diagnostic computer program AGECAT diagnosed 44 incident cases of depression. Information from the depressed group's initial and further interviews was compared with a control group (which excluded cases of affective or organic mental illness). Univariate analysis yielded three factors that were significantly associated with the development of depression 3 years later: a lack of satisfaction with life; feelings of loneliness; and smoking. Multivariate analysis confirmed their independent effects and revealed 2 further factors attaining significance: female gender and a trigger factor, bereavement of a close figure within 6 months of the third-year diagnosis. Some other factors traditionally associated with depression, such as poor housing, marital status and living alone, failed to attain significance as risk factors.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Persecutory delusions and recall of threatening propositions.

Subjects suffering from persecutory delusions, psychiatric controls and normal subjects were required to recall immediately six passages of prose, half of which contained mildly threatening propositions. Deluded subjects recalled fewer propositions overall but more propositions of specifically threatening content. These findings suggest that the role of recall bias in persecutory delusions merits further study.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

Alpha: the Liverpool MRC Study of the incidence of dementia and cognitive decline.

The design and methods of this longitudinal study of dementia which is underway are described. An age- and sex-stratified random sample of 6,000 elderly community subjects are being re-assessed after a 2-year interval using the GMS-AGECAT package. Alpha forms part of the MRC funded UK multicentre incidence study and an international network of collaborative studies using comparable measures.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Geriatric Mental State-AGECAT: prevalence, incidence and long-term outcome of dementia and organic disorders in the Liverpool study of continuing health in the community.

The GMS-AGECAT package was used in the initial assessment and 3-year follow-up of a random sample of 1,070 elderly people living in the community. A prevalence of 4.3% is found for dementia after confirmation of diagnoses by outcome at year 3. The overall incidence of dementia was 9.2/1,000 per year after partial adjustments for outcome of year 6. Incidence per year for sub-types of dementia were AD 6.3/1,000, vascular 1.9/1,000, and alcohol-related 1.0/1,000.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMed1992

The natural history of neurotic disorder in an elderly urban population. Findings from the Liverpool longitudinal study of continuing health in the community.

A random community sample of 1070 subjects aged 65 years and over was interviewed at home using the GMS-AGECAT package and followed up three years later. Neurotic symptoms were common, but symptoms sufficient to reach 'case' level were much less frequent. The overall prevalence of neurotic 'cases' was 2.4% in year 0 and 1.4% in year 3. The incidence was estimated as a minimum of 4.4 per 1000 per year over the age of 65. Women were more likely to be 'cases' than men but not 'subcases', and there was a general decline in prevalence with increasing age, particularly for 'subcases'. Anxiety was the commonest neurotic subtype. After three years, 'cases' were shown not to persist, but this did not reflect wellness. There was a tendency still to have some symptoms, but the predominant symptom appeared to change, suggesting a possible chronic neurotic disorder with changing presentation over time. Depressive symptoms were closely associated with this presentation, suggesting that depression may be an important and integral part of a general, changing neurotic disorder.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Alzheimer's disease, other dementias, depression and pseudodementia: prevalence, incidence and three-year outcome in Liverpool.

A group of 1070 community-living persons aged 65 and over was assessed using the GMS-AGECAT package and other interviews at years 0 and 3. Year 3 interviewers were 'blind' to the findings at year 0, and the prevalence of organic disorders and depression was very similar in both years. According to the results at year 3, minimum and maximum prevalence figures for dementia at year 0 were 2.4% and 3.8% for moderate to severe and 0.4% and 2.4% for mild or early cases, with a best estimate of 3.5% and 0.8%, or 4.3% overall, divided into: senile, Alzheimer's type 3.3%; vascular 0.7%; and alcohol-related 0.3%. The overall incidence of dementia, clinically confirmed by six-year follow-up, was 9.2/1000 per year (Alzheimer type 6.3, vascular 1.9, alcohol related 1.0). Three years later, 72.0% of those with depressive psychosis and 62.3% of those with depressive neurosis were either dead or had some kind of psychiatric illness. Nearly 60% of milder depressive cases (7.2% of the total sample) had either died or developed a chronic mental illness. The outcome of depressive pseudodementias is equivocal so far. Findings at year 3 provide validation of AGECAT computer diagnosis against outcome; organic and depression diagnoses are seen to have important implications for prognosis.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

A follow-up study of problem drinkers offered a goal choice option.

Patients (N = 100) who had been admitted to behaviorally oriented residential treatment for their drinking problems were followed up for 1 year. A treatment goal option of controlled drinking was explicitly catered for. Overall outcome, in which 27% of those available for follow-up were categorized as "successful," 35% as "equivocal" and 38% as "failure," does not appear to be markedly dissimilar to that reported from other agencies. The distribution of approximately equal abstinent and nonabstinent successful outcomes is similar to that found following treatment programs that promote a single goal. Sociodemographic variables were less influential in predicting outcome than were treatment variables--with frequency of aftercare attendance being particularly significant. Those who had received previous hospital treatment for their problem, those who habitually drank in company and those who had abnormal blood test results prior to entering treatment had poorer outcome.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

The epidemiology of dementia: GMS-AGECAT studies of prevalence and incidence, including studies in progress.

The paper reviews the main studies using the AGECAT computerised diagnostic system for the diagnosis of dementia in community studies of prevalence and incidence. It is suggested that variations in reported rates may be due to the use of unstandardised methods, and the paper reviews the oldest established standardised interview: the Geriatric Mental State. The AGECAT system is outlined, and the studies of its diagnostic validity indicated. Arguments are presented against the inclusion of cognitive tests in such instruments, and for the critical evaluation of the concepts of mild dementia. The use of AGECAT in the US/UK Diagnostic Project, and in the Liverpool study of Continuing Health in the Community is described. In addition, preliminary information is given on the Liverpool ALPHA study, the MRC UK multi-centre study, studies organised by the Pan American Health Organisation (Argentina, Chile, Cuba), the Eurodem concerted action (based in Rotterdam) and the WHO multi-site studies. Individual studies in Spain and Portugal are also discussed.

Aged↗
PubMed1991

How should prevalence be modelled?

This article evaluates a number of different methods for summarizing the relationship between prevalence and other variables. It uses as a concrete example the article by Jorm et al. The article makes recommendations for future studies.

Age Factors↗
PubMed1991

Paranoia and social reasoning: an attribution theory analysis.

The social reasoning of patients suffering from persecutory delusions and matched groups of depressed and normal controls was investigated using the framework of Kelley's (1967) theory of social attribution. Subjects were required to choose between person, circumstances and stimulus attributions for a series of social vignettes describing interactions between two persons. The vignettes varied in terms of the distinctiveness, consistency and consensus information supplied, as well as in respect of whether the actions described were positively or negatively valued. It was found that the deluded patients made excessive person attributions for negative events. It was also found that the deluded patients were excessively certain about their judgements compared to the depressed controls. Normal subjects tended to rate their certainty in their own judgements midway between the deluded and depressed patients.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Self-esteem and aesthetics.

Self-esteem/self-concept and aesthetics were measured in three groups. One group prior to orthodontic treatment, one group following completion of active orthodontic treatment and an untreated group. Improvement in dental and/or facial aesthetics does not necessarily lead to an increase in self esteem.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Heavy drinking as a risk factor for depression and dementia in elderly men. Findings from the Liverpool longitudinal community study.

A random community sample of subjects aged 65 and over was re-interviewed after three years by psychiatrists using the GMS and HAS. The relationship between drinking history and current psychiatric morbidity was examined. Men with a history of heavy drinking for five years or more at some time in their lives were found to have a greater than fivefold risk of suffering from a psychiatric disorder at the time of the interview. Among this group past alcohol consumption was significantly higher for those with a current psychiatric diagnosis compared with those who were well. This association between heavy alcohol consumption in earlier years and psychiatric morbidity in later life is not explained by current drinking habits.

Aged↗
PubMed1990

Professionals' attributions of censure in father-daughter incest.

Despite the recent increase in interest in the area of child sexual abuse, few studies have explored the attitudes of professionals involved in working with children. The present study investigates variables relating to the attribution of censure by two professional groups (teachers and social workers), to a victim of father-daughter incest, the father, and nonparticipating mother. Subjects were given one of four brief histories of a 14-year-old girl who had been sexually abused by her father. Cases varied according to whether the child had/had not resisted her father's advances and whether she had/had not had other sexual experiences. Subjects then completed a questionnaire and indicated the extent to which they attributed censure to the child, her mother, and father, and the extent to which they believed she would be affected by her experiences. Results showed that responses were influenced by the level of resistance, other sexual experiences, and respondents' sex and occupation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Subjective experiences of magnetic resonance imaging.

Clinical experience with the new technology of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has indicated that the procedure may produce anxiety in a number of patients, to the extent that occasionally a patient may be unwilling to undergo the procedure. A study of patients' subjective experiences of MRI was therefore conducted and these were compared with those of patients undergoing computed tomography (CT). Initial interviews with 15 MRI and 15 CT patients led to the development of a questionnaire which was administered to a further 40 patients in each setting. No significant differences were found between those factors identified as unpleasant in MRI and those of CT, with the exception of the confined space of MRI; 40% of the MRI patients found this unpleasant by comparison with only 15% of the CT patients. Principal components analysis of the concerns expressed suggested three factors, to do with the machine itself, the environment of the machine, and the social interactions involved. Patients finding the procedures unpleasant tended to be those with high initial levels of anxiety, little experience of diagnostic procedures, and believing themselves to have cancer.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1989

Back pain, ventilatory function, chest symptoms, and smoking.

Tests of ventilatory function were made and a history of previous back pain was obtained from 909 volunteers (592 men and 317 women). One year later, using postal questionnaires, they were asked about their experience of back pain in the ensuing 12 months and about smoking habits, breathlessness, coughing, and the bringing up of phlegm. From the frequency of their experience of back pain, the population was divided into "nonbacks," "mild backs," and "chronic backs." From their answers to the MRC Questionnaire on respiratory symptoms they were divided first into good, mild, and bad with regard to chest symptoms; and also into smokers, exsmokers, and nonsmokers. Ventilatory function tests were reduced in both smokers and "bad chests" and chest symptoms were significantly worse in smokers. Women with back pain were more likely to be smokers, but men with back pain were not. Chest symptoms were significantly worse in "chronic backs," whether men or women. The results suggest that previous reports of a relation between smoking and back pain arose incidentally from the associations between (a) chest and back symptoms and (b) chest symptoms and smoking.

Back Pain↗
PubMed1989

The effect of minimal interventions by general practitioners on long-term benzodiazepine use.

Seventy one long-term users of benzodiazepines were asked by their general practitioners in a letter or short interview to reduce their medication. Twenty two patients were successful in giving up or reducing their consumption to less than 100 tablets per annum. There were no clear predictors of success in terms of patient characteristics, duration of drug use, type of benzodiazepine, reason for drug use or strategy employed to reduce medication. However, patients who were successful at reducing their medication had a significantly lower mean baseline drug consumption than unsuccessful patients. The implications of this study are that a proportion of long-term users who are not in current crisis, especially those with relatively low consumption, can reduce or stop benzodiazepine treatment with minimal difficulty.

Benzodiazepines↗