Biomedical subjects

Sabrina Paterniti

Publications and source records attributed to Sabrina Paterniti.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

Emotion-processing deficits in eating disorders.

OBJECTIVE: First, we measured both emotional awareness and alexithymia to understand better emotion-processing deficits in eating disorder patients (EDs). Second, we increased the reliability of the measures by limiting the influence of confounding factors (negative affects). METHOD: Seventy females with eating disorders were compared with 70 female controls. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI; depression), the Hospital and Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS; anxiety), the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS; alexithymia), and the Level of Emotional Awareness Scale (LEAS). RESULTS: EDs exhibited higher alexithymia scores and lower LEAS scores, with an inability to identify and describe their own emotions, as well as an impairment in mentalizing others' emotional experience. Whereas alexithymia scores were related to depression scores, LEAS scores were not. After controlling for depression, alexithymia scores were similar in EDs and controls. DISCUSSION: The marked impairment in emotion processing found in EDs is independent of affective disorders. Thus, the joint use of TAS and LEAS suggests a global emotion-processing deficit in EDs.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

[Validation of the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory's French translation].

OBJECTIVE: This article outlines the French translation and validation of the Peritraumatic Distress Inventory (PDI) in a psychotrauma outpatient sample. METHOD: A total of 127 French-speaking individuals were assessed from 2001 to 2002, at their first psychiatric visit for a traumatic event. An assessment at 3 months was offered by mail to control temporal stability. RESULTS: The PDI French validation has good internal consistency, with a 0.83 Cronbach's alpha coefficient. Test-retest shows a very satisfying temporal stability, with a 0.79 coefficient of intraclass correlation in a confidence interval between 0.61 and 0.89. The concurrent validity analyzed through the correlation with the Impact of Event Scale Revised (IES-R), the Peritraumatic Dissociation Questionnaire (PDEQ), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) is very good. Further, the principal component analysis shows a bivariate solution that explains 45% of variance. CONCLUSION: The PDI French version has a satisfying psychometric validity. Moreover, the factor pattern in this translation is very close to that in the PDI's original version.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Correlation between serum levels of interleukin-4 and alexithymia scores in healthy female subjects: preliminary findings.

Some studies suggest that inaccuracy in recognizing and describing emotional states, combined with a highly descriptive mode of expression, as in alexithymia, may influence the immune response. We therefore investigated in healthy women the relationship between alexithymia and circulating levels of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4. Seventeen mentally and physically healthy women aged between 20 and 25 years completed psychological questionnaires to assess alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale: TAS) and depressed mood (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale: HAD). Serum concentrations of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4 were measured by ELISA. We found a significant positive correlation between serum levels of IL-4 and TAS score (r=0.55; p=0.021) and between factor 1 of the TAS (difficulty in identifying feelings) and IL-4 (r=0.57; p=0.017) while serum IL-1 and IL-2 were not detected in ten and six patients, respectively. Although there was a significant correlation between age and IL-4 levels, a linear regression with BMI, age, depressed mood and TAS as independent variables showed that only alexithymia could predict significantly increased levels of IL-4. Alexithymia and difficulty in identifying feelings could be associated with increased levels of IL-4 which may result in chronic impairment of pro/anti-inflammatory cytokine balance with psychological and somatic consequences. Nevertheless, these intriguing findings would deserve replication and extension in a larger sample of subjects.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Correlation between serum levels of interleukin-4 and alexithymia scores in healthy female subjects: preliminary findings.

OBJECTIVE: Some studies suggest that inaccuracy in recognizing and describing emotional states, combined with a highly descriptive mode of expression, as in alexithymia, may influence the immune response. We therefore investigated in healthy women the relationship between alexithymia and circulating levels of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4. METHOD: Seventeen mentally and physically healthy women aged between 20 and 25 years completed psychological questionnaires to assess alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale: TAS) and depressed mood (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale: HAD). Serum concentrations of IL-1, IL-2 and IL-4 were measured by ELISA. RESULTS: We found a significant positive correlation between serum levels of IL-4 and TAS score (r = 0.55; p = 0.021) and between factor 1 of the TAS (difficulty in identifying feelings) and IL-4 (r = 0.57; p = 0.017) while serum IL-1 and IL-2 were not detected in ten and six patients, respectively. Although there was a significant correlation between age and IL-4 levels, a linear regression with BMI, age, depressed mood and TAS as independent variables showed that only alexithymia could predict significantly increased levels of IL-4. CONCLUSION: Alexithymia and difficulty in identifying feelings could be associated with increased levels of IL-4 which may result in chronic impairment of pro/anti-inflammatory cytokine balance with psychological and somatic consequences. Nevertheless, these intriguing findings would deserve replication and extension in a larger sample of subjects.

Adult↗

PubMed2003

Prediction of the occurrence and intensity of post-traumatic stress disorder in victims 32 months after bomb attack.

INTRODUCTION: Our objective was to identify factors that predict occurrence and severity of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after a terrorism attack. POPULATION: We evaluated 32 victims of a bomb attack in a Paris subway in December 1996 at 6 and 32 months. METHOD: Sociodemographic characteristics, clinical data and physical injuries were used to predict PTSD occurrence and severity in 32 victims. The Watson's PTSD Inventory (PTSD-I) and the Impact of Event Scale (IES) by Horowitz were used to evaluate occurrence and severity of PTSD, respectively. RESULTS: Thirty-nine percent of participants met PTSD criteria at 6 months, 25% still had PTSD at 32 months. Women had PTSD 32 months after the bomb attack more frequently than men. Employment predicted PTSD severity at 32 months. PTSD scores assessed by PTSD-I at 6 months were significantly and positively associated with IES scores at 32-month follow-up (r = 0.55, P = 0.004). Psychotropic drug use before the bomb attack significantly predicted PTSD occurrence and severity at 6 and 32 months. In a linear regression model, physical injuries, employment status and psychotropic drug use before the bomb attack were independent predictors of severity of PTSD at 32 months. CONCLUSIONS: Bomb attack exposure resulted in persisting PTSD in a significant proportion of victims; the severity was predicted at 32 months by physical injuries and psychotropic drug use before the terrorism attack and by the PTSD score few months after the bomb attack.

Adult↗

PubMed2002

Long-term benzodiazepine use and cognitive decline in the elderly: the Epidemiology of Vascular Aging Study.

Several cross-sectional studies have found cognitive impairment in subjects taking benzodiazepines for long periods. However, it is not known whether long-term use of benzodiazepines accelerates cognitive decline in the elderly. The authors addressed this issue in a follow-up study of 1,389 people aged 60 to 70 years recruited from the electoral rolls of the city of Nantes (Epidemiology of Vascular Aging study). Data on cognitive functioning (five cognitive tests), depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression Scale), anxiety symptoms (Spielberger Inventory Scale), use of psychotropics and other drugs, and tobacco and alcohol consumption were collected at baseline, 2-year, and 4-year examinations. People reporting to take benzodiazepines at one, two and three examinations were classified as episodic, recurrent, and chronic users, respectively. Among the 1,176 subjects (85%) who participated in the three examinations, the proportions of episodic, recurrent, and chronic users were 10%, 6%, and 7%, respectively. Chronic users of benzodiazepines had a significantly higher risk of cognitive decline in the global cognitive test (Mini Mental State Examination) and the two attention tests than nonusers (Mini Mental State Examination: odds ratio [OR] [95% confidence interval (CI)] = 1.9 [1.0-3.5]; Digit Symbol Substitution test: OR [95% CI] = 2.7 [1.6-4.7]; Trail Making test, part B: OR [95% CI] = 2.1 [1.2-3.7]). Overall, episodic and recurrent users had lower cognitive scores than nonusers, but differences were not statistically significant. These results were independent of age, sex, education, alcohol and tobacco use, anxiety and depression scores, and use of psychotropic drugs other than benzodiazepines. The findings suggest that long-term use of benzodiazepines is risk factor of increased cognitive decline in the elderly.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

Depressive symptoms and cognitive decline in elderly people. Longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Depressive symptoms are associated with cognitive decline in elderly people, but the nature of their temporal relationship remains equivocal. AIMS: To test whether depressive symptoms predict cognitive decline in elderly people with normal cognition. METHOD: The Center for Epidemiologic Study depression scale (CES-D) and the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) were used to evaluate depressive symptomatology and cognitive functioning, respectively. A sample of 1003 persons aged 59-71 years and with a MMSE score of 26 or over was selected. Cognitive decline was defined as a drop of at least 3 points on the MMSE at 4-year follow-up. RESULTS: Baseline high levels of depressive symptoms predicted a higher risk of cognitive decline at 4-year follow-up. The MMSE score of participants with depression was more likely to fall below 26 at 2-year follow-up and to remain below at 4-year follow-up than the MMSE score of those without depressive symptoms. Persistent but not episodic depressive episodes were associated with cognitive decline. CONCLUSIONS: High levels of depressive symptoms, when persistent, are associated with cognitive decline in a sample of elderly people.

Aged↗

PubMed2002

[Anhedonia and emotional awareness: facts and perspectives in eating disorders].

According to clinical reports, patients with eating disorders (EDs) are unable to differentiate and regulate emotional states. They are hypothesized alexithymic and lacking of emotional awareness. We investigate EDs capacity to experiment pleasure and levels of emotional awareness, in a comparative study. As expected, EDs show a global deficit of emotional functioning, with inability to identify and describe their own emotions, as well as an impairment in mentalising others' emotional experience, and an anhedonia. No relations between the duration of illness and the emotional dimensions were found. This trouble in regulation of emotions either follows the eating disorder and constitutes a lasting sequel, or appears to be a personality trait

Adult↗