Biomedical subjects
Ulrich Tacke
Publications and source records attributed to Ulrich Tacke.
Gender-related changes in suicide rates and methods in Eastern Finland from 1988 to 1997.
The first aim of the study was to investigate the changes in regional suicide rates for the province of Kuopio, Eastern Finland, from 1988 to 1997 and compare rates with those for the whole Finland. The second aim was to investigate gender-related changes in suicide rates and methods during the study period. Altogether, 777 suicides were examined. Between 1988 and 1997, regional male suicide mortality decreased, approaching the mean national level, which was rising during the same interval. From 1992 to 1997, there was a rise in regional suicide mortality, which coincided with a decrease at the national level. Female suicide rates in Eastern Finland also initially decreased, but thereafter remained variable and slightly higher than the national level. Gender-related differences in suicide mortality diminished. The initial difference between genders in mean age (49.5 years in women, 41.8 years in men) disappeared towards the end of the study period (47.0 years in women, 45.2 years in men). The decline in mean ages of women was mostly due to change in urban suicides, whereas the increase in the mean age of men was caused by change in rural suicides. Among men, the relative proportion of self-poisoning suicides rose significantly. The divergent development of suicide rates from the province of Kuopio and the entire nation may reflect differences in the development of social structures in rural Eastern Finland compared to more densely populated parts of the country. Gender differences and local variation in suicide mortality should be taken into account when assessing and developing further suicide prevention strategies.
[Difficult choice between various antipsychotic agents--should we broaden our view?].
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Abuse of buprenorphine by intravenous injection--the french connection.
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The effect of tobacco smoking on subjective symptoms of inadequacy ("not holding") of methadone dose among opiate addicts in methadone maintenance treatment.
The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between subjective symptoms of inadequacy of methadone dose (not feeling "held") and tobacco smoking in patients in methadone maintenance treatment (MMT). This was a cross-sectional study of smoking behaviour, investigating subjective, physiological and psychological symptoms. The study took place in a community-based methadone maintenance clinic of a psychiatric teaching hospital in South London. Fifty adult opiate addicts (37 males and 13 females) were on a stable daily methadone dose; the number of cigarettes smoked during the day and previous day of investigation, salivary cotinine measurements and carbon monoxide (CO) from expired air were measured. The Methadone Symptom Checklist (MSC) was used to score withdrawal symptoms encountered in patients not feeling "held" during MMT The Hamilton Anxiety Score was also used. The prevalence of tobacco-smoking was high (98%), with two-thirds (68%) smoking self-fabricated cigarettes ("roll-ups"). Scores from rating scales measuring symptoms of not being "held" correlated with number of cigarettes smoked the previous day (p < 0.05). A similar correlation was found with the Hamilton Anxiety Score. However, there was no correlation between rating scale scores and either salivary cotinine concentration or CO from expired air. Methadone patients who smoke more are significantly more likely to report problems of not feeling "held" by their methadone dose and they also show a higher level of anxiety. However, this increased cigarette consumption is not reflected in increased salivary continine levels or levels of CO in expired air, and it may be that the raised level of anxiety leads to a smoking-pattern consisting of frequent lighting-up of cigarettes or "roll-ups" which are consumed incompletely and/or not smoked by inhalation.