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S Pelton

Publications and source records attributed to S Pelton.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

A comparative evaluation of three discriminant scales for endogenous depression.

Three discriminant scales for diagnosing endogenous depression were examined in 56 depressed inpatients. These scales were the Newcastle 1 (N1), Newcastle 2 (N2), and Michigan Index (MI). The scales agreed on diagnosis in 17 (30%) patients; respective frequencies of endogenous depression were 23%, 57%, and 78% for the N2, N1, and MI scales. Relationships were examined between treatment response to isocarboxazid, drug dose, and diagnostic type for each scale. Significant dose X diagnosis interactions were noted for N1 and N2, but not for MI. A correlational within-dose analysis of all three scales revealed that actual diagnostic score was related to outcome only for high-dose patients on the Newcastle-1 scale; no other significant correlations emerged.

Adult

A study of depressive typologies using grade of membership analysis.

Grade of Membership (GOM) analysis, a multivariate technique for studying disease, was used to explore depressive typology and relationships between depression and anxiety. One hundred and ninety patients with RDC diagnoses of major or minor depression were assessed by the Hamilton and SCL-90 symptom rating scales, the Newcastle diagnostic indices for endogenous depression and for anxiety and depression. Demographic, family and treatment response information were used as external validators. Five pure types provided the most satisfactory solution to these data. One group corresponded to classical melancholia, occurring in older, stable, in-patients, who lacked panic-phobic symptoms. All patients with agoraphobia fell into two distinct in-patient and out-patient groups, which differed from each other in several ways. In one group, a link was found between panic attacks, agitated melancholia and familial pure depression. The second group was less symptomatic and had more atypical vegetative symptoms. Two more groups comprised mildly symptomatic, hypochondriacal, depression, and a highly neurotic, obsessive, anxious, non-phobic depression, which was commonly related to a physical stressor.

Adolescent

The response of depressed inpatients to isocarboxazid.

Fifty-six inpatients with unipolar depression completed treatment with isocarboxazid. In comparing the differences between responders and nonresponders, it was found that psychomotor retardation, pathological guilt, daily persistence of unremitting symptoms, phobic anxiety, dexamethasone suppression test nonsuppression, and neuroticism were significantly more common among nonresponders. Reactivity of mood, blaming others, and extraversion were more common in responders. Total endogenous depression scores on the Newcastle 1, Newcastle 2, and Michigan scales were also significantly higher in nonresponders. Attained platelet monoamine oxidase inhibition was similar in both groups.

Adult

Diagnostic utility of the dexamethasone suppression test.

This article discusses the current controversy surrounding the diagnostic utility of the Dexamethasone Suppression Test, addresses the questions raised by the recent editorial by Ross in this journal, discusses the general principles behind the development of tests, and estimates their diagnostic utility. This discussion aims to clarify some aspects of the controversy. It presents an operational analysis of the Dexamethasone Suppression Test as utilized at a state hospital. This operational analysis shows that the test may be useful in distinguishing schizophrenia from psychotic depression, and mania from schizophrenia. Furthermore, it shows that the test is not useful as a screening test. These results are compared with those obtained by other investigators. The authors further show how test results can be used rationally by clinicians by so-called threshold analysis. Clinical data from a state hospital are used to illustrate this.

Dexamethasone

An outpatient evaluation of phenelzine and imipramine.

Phenelzine and imipramine were evaluated in a 5-week double-blind study of outpatients with major depression. Median daily doses of phenelzine 75 mg and imipramine 150 mg were employed. Of 27 patients 26 completed the 5-week study. Both drugs produced an equal overall effect, as measured by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAM-D) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). When patients were grouped on the basis of panic attack symptoms, phenelzine was found to be more effective than imipramine (p less than .05 for all patients on the BDI; p less than .05 for women on both rating scales).

Adult

Forms of atypical depression and their response to antidepressant drugs.

Three definitions of atypical depression are evaluated with respect to the effects of monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs) and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) on the basis of pooled data from several double-blind studies. Those three definitions of atypical depression are depression with associated panic, depression secondary to a diagnosis of anxiety, and depression with reversed vegetative change. In none of these forms was a drug difference observed. However, when gender was taken into account, MAOIs were superior to TCAs in depressed women with panic attacks, whereas TCAs were superior to MAOIs in depressed men with panic attacks.

Adult

An assessment of the Newcastle Anxiety Depression Index.

The Newcastle Anxiety and Depression Diagnostic Index (NADDI) has been reviewed, and its advantages and disadvantages discussed. One hundred eighty-seven patients were examined, and grouped into three categories by means of the NADDI, which produced a unimodal distribution of score. These three groups were studied in respect of the Hamilton Depression and SCL-90 self-rating scales. Significant profile differences were found on both scales. Patients with pure anxiety and pure depression were more distressed than the intermediate group of mixed anxiety-depressed patients. The NADDI scale items were compared in four clinical groups of primary endogenous, primary nonendogenous depression, generalized anxiety, and panic disorder. Most differences were found when panic disorder was compared to the other three groups, and generalized anxiety disorder received minimal validation. Treatment response was also examined.

Adult

What does the dexamethasone suppression test identify?

The authors studied the Dexamethasone Suppression Test (DST) in chronic pain patients with and without major depression, using items from a modified version of the Hamilton Depression Scale, the Hamilton Anxiety Scale, and the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale. The purpose of the study was to identify the factor or factors which discriminated DST suppressors from nonsuppressors. The data suggest that depression and its profile are efficient discriminators of suppressors and nonsuppressors. Anxiety-related items were not as good as discriminators. The items that identified nonsuppression were the items that are often seen in combination in endogenous depression.

Adult

Neurovegetative symptoms in chronic pain and depression.

The pattern and frequency of neurovegetative symptoms was studied in 57 patients with chronic pain. Seventy-nine percent of these patients had a diagnosable depressive illness, but endogenous depression was rare (5%). Patients with chronic pain were divided into major depressives, minor/intermittent depressives and patients with no depression. A control group of nonendogenous major depressives without pain was also utilized. Major depressives differed from the other two chronic pain groups in that there was more frequent or severe early waking, weight loss, anorexia, diminished libido and initial insomnia. Diurnal variation of mood was not a characteristic of major depression with chronic pain, and did not differ in frequency from the other two chronic pain groups. Major depressives exhibited a profile of neurovegetative symptoms very similar to that found in the control group of major depressives. Over one-third of minor/intermittent depressed patients with chronic pain exhibited atypical (reversed) vegetative symptoms of hyperphagia and weight gain. This finding, together with our review of the literature, suggests an important and previously unrecognized link between atypical depression and chronic pain.

Adult

The Newcastle Anxiety Depression Diagnostic Index in relationship to the effects of monoamine oxidase inhibitors and tricyclic antidepressants.

The Newcastle Anxiety Depression Diagnostic Index (NADDI) was applied to 151 patients who received a monoamine oxidase inhibitor (MAOI) or a tricyclic antidepressant (TCA) drug. The pretreatment presence of a physical stressor and absence of agoraphobia were associated with superior MAOI effects. In women nine of the 13 NADDI items were associated with superior response to the MAOI drugs: these items comprised the absence of childhood anxiety, agoraphobia, compulsive symptoms, early awaking, and retardation, and the presence of dependent traits, neuroticism, physical stress, and panic attacks. In men the absence of suicidal tendencies and retardation, and the presence of dependent traits and panic attacks were associated with superior TCA effects. A within-treatment analysis indicated that depressed men responded better to MAOI than did anxious men.

Adult