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Biomedical subjects

V Lehtinen

Publications and source records attributed to V Lehtinen.

At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
PubMed1994

Frequent attenders of Finnish public primary health care: sociodemographic characteristics and physical morbidity.

In this article results of a Finnish study on frequent attender patients of public primary health care are reported. These patients (n = 96) were compared with other patients (n = 466) attending the same surgeries. Frequent attender patients tended to have lower vocational training and to belong to lower social groups than other patients. The frequent attender patients also had more physical diseases, were more often on disability pension and had more mixed (physical-psychiatric) complaints than the control patients. The results indicate that many frequent attender patients complaints form a complicated network departing from different levels (physical, psychological and social). The implications of the findings are discussed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

SCL-25 and recognition of mental disorders reported by primary health care physicians.

A marked proportion of primary care patients have mental disorders and problems that remain unrecognized by the patients and their general practitioners. There is furthermore a great variation in the physicians' ability to detect mental disorders. The aim of the present study was to find out the overall prevalence of mental disorders among patients receiving primary health care. The material consisted of 1000 randomly selected adult patients attending primary care facilities in Turku. The mental disorders were assessed by using the Symptom Checklist (SCL-25) and by general practitioners. According to the SCL-25, one fourth of the sample had a mental disorder. Only two fifths of them could be identified by the general practitioners.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Epidemiology of depression: prevalence, risk factors and treatment situation.

Depending on the way it is defined depression can be seen as a state of mood, as a symptom, as a syndrome or as a clinical diagnosis. Epidemiological studies show that depression is the most common mental disorder in man. Up to 4% of men and 8% of women suffer from a clinically significant depressive disorder, while depressive symptoms are much more common. The occurrence of depression is associated with factors such as age, marital status, social class, and social conditions. In Finland, only one third of persons suffering from depression are actually being treated for their disorder.

Adult↗
PubMed1994

Depression and cardiovascular diseases.

We first review the associations between depression and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Then we examine them in the nationally representative Mini-Finland Health Survey, which covers 8,000 persons. Chronic somatic diseases and mental disorders were diagnosed using standardized methods. Cross-sectionally, CVDs and neurotic depression were associated both before and after adjustment for covariates. The strongest associations were observed in the case of severe CVDs. During a 6.6 year follow-up, the risk of CVD death and coronary death was elevated in depressed persons both with and without CVDs at entry. Much of the cross-sectional association is probably due to depression caused by CVDs. The outcome of CVD may be poorer in depressed persons. The hypothesis that depression is a cause of CVDs requires further study.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Self-perceived fatigue and cortisol secretion in a community sample.

The possible relation of cortisol secretion to self-perceived fatigue was examined in an adult community sample. Serum cortisol levels measured after the dexamethasone suppression test (DST) did not predict fatigue whereas depression assessed by the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and current medical treatment were significant and independent predictors. Confounding variables such as age, gender, body mass and social status were not predictive of fatigue. Of putative hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal abnormalities hypersecretion of cortisol does not typify subjects with self-perceived fatigue.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Stability of prevalences of mental disorders in a normal population cohort followed for 16 years.

Results from the Finnish UKKI study on longitudinal changes in prevalences of different mental disorder categories in a population cohort (n = 723) are presented. The subjects were investigated three times: in the original survey during 1969-71, and in two follow-ups (5 and 16 years after the original survey). The prevalence of all mental disorders was about 30% in all phases of the study, although the prevalence of psychoses increased from 1.1% to 3.5%. A special focus of interest was the changes in different 10-year birth cohorts during the 16 years. The results indicated that the youngest birth cohort (born in 1945-54) did not reach the same prevalence level of all mental disorders combined as the birth cohort 10 years older upon reaching the same age.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1991

Interrater agreement when assessing alexithymia using the Drawing Completion Test (Wartegg Zeichentest).

Due to insufficient agreement regarding the definition of the concept of alexithymia, a number of theoretically different approaches have been used when assessing the phenomenon. Primarily psychiatric interviews and questionnaires have been used, but also projective tests, principally the TAT, and the Rorschach. In this study four independent assessments of alexithymia were made, using the Wartegg, for a cohort of 50 randomly selected subjects, acting upon the alexithymia description of von Rad. Intraclass correlations were on an average 0.77.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

The prevalence of PSE-CATEGO disorders in a Finnish adult population cohort.

A normal Finnish population cohort, originally aged 15-64 years, has been followed psychiatrically for 16 years. In the 16-year follow-up, 742 of the original sample of 1000 persons could be contacted and personally examined i.a. by means of the full 140-item version of the PSE. The age-adjusted prevalence of mental disorders in the population aged 30-80 years was 9.9% (6.9% in men and 12.4% in women). The prevalence of psychotic conditions was exceptionally high in comparison to other studies, 2.7%. The occurrence of mental disorders was associated with marital status and social class in men but not in women. Other factors examined, namely age, education, occupational category and experience of unemployment during the follow-up period, were not associated with the occurrence of mental disorders. The results are compared with the results from other studies using the same case finding method.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Chronic low back pain patient and spouse.

Marital adjustment, psychological distress, health attitudes and prevalence of musculoskeletal pain symptoms were studied and compared between 63 chronic low back pain (CLBP) patients and their spouses. The CLBP patients experienced somatization significantly more than their spouses, while other psychological distress scores did not reveal statistically significant differences between the couples. The CLBP patients experienced significantly more feelings of guilt at having pain than their spouses. The patients experienced significantly more internal control, while their spouses experienced more external locus control of health. The female spouses had had significantly more musculoskeletal pain symptoms in neck and shoulders during the past week than the male spouses. The prevalence of musculoskeletal pain symptoms in the CLBP patients did not differ significantly between sexes. The results of this study are compared to population studies where the same methods have been used.

Adaptation, Psychological↗
PubMed1990

Prevalence of mental disorders among adults in Finland: basic results from the Mini Finland Health Survey.

The Mini Finland Health Survey was an extensive epidemiological study of the Finnish population aged 30 or over; the prevalence of mental disorders was one aspect studied. Prevalence of symptoms in the General Health Questionnaire as well as the prevalence of self-perceived and clinically assessed mental disorders was studied. The total prevalence of clinically assessed mental disorders was 17.4%, 14.8% in the men and 19.5% in the women. A definite disorder was observed for 11.7% of the subjects. About half of the subjects suffering from a mental disorder according to clinical assessment also reported a self-perceived disorder. Of various diagnoses, the most common were phobic and anxiety neurosis (6.2%) and neurotic depression (4.6%). The prevalence of schizophrenia was 1.3%. The highest prevalence was found in the ages 50 to 64 years. The prevalence of psychoses was highest in northern and eastern Finland, and that of neuroses in southern Finland.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Need for mental health services of the adult population in Finland: results from the Mini Finland Health Survey.

This article presents results on the self-perceived and clinically assessed met and unmet need for mental health care as indicated by the Mini Finland Health Survey, an extensive epidemiological study of the Finnish population aged 30 years or over. The prevalence of self-perceived definite or probable need for care was 6.4% in the men and 8.2% in the women. The corresponding clinical assessments were 14.5% in the men and 19.6% in the women. The need for specialist care was 7.5% in the men and 9.6% in the women. The need was greatest in the middle-aged groups. About 60% of persons in need of care were not receiving any treatment. Half of the treatment received was assessed as inadequate. The treatment situation was much better for psychoses than for neuroses, but it varied little between the different parts of the country.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Alexithymic features in relation to the dexamethasone suppression test in a Finnish population sample.

Hypothesizing that a positive DST result could reflect an aberrant stress reaction in subjects with alexithymic features, the authors investigated the relationship between alexithymic features and DST results in 266 subjects from a Finnish adult population sample. Alexithymic features were assessed with the Beth Israel Questionnaire. The authors found a statistically significant association between observed alexithymic features and a positive DST result. This association could be seen after adjustment separately for age, social rank, marital status, and the occurrence of depression.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1990

Eight cases of patients with unfounded fear of AIDS.

This article describes eight cases of patients treated at the Psychiatric Department of the University Central Hospital of Turku (UCHT) Finland who all had as a common feature an unfounded fear of AIDS. Three of the patients committed suicide and one of them had overt suicidal tendencies. An unfounded fear of AIDS may be a sign of psychiatric disturbance with increased suicidal risk. Increased fear of AIDS seems to have correlation with media and counselling services. Owing to the fact that these patients primarily seek medical help from other fields of medicine than psychiatry, they are a new problem especially for general hospital psychiatry.

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome↗
PubMed1987

Abdominal hysterectomy versus supravaginal uterine amputation: psychic factors.

In the present study, the psychic complaints after abdominal hysterectomy (n = 105) and supravaginal uterine amputation (n = 107) are investigated. The first author interviewed personally all the subjects preoperatively and 6 weeks, 6 months, 1 year and 3 years postoperatively. The proportion of subjects without psychic symptoms increased from 49.5% to 67.7% in the hysterectomy group (p less than 0.01) and from 53.3% to 76.8% in the amputation group (p less than 0.001). The difference between the groups at 3 years phase was significant (p less than 0.01). From the single symptoms, nervousness or irritability and depression, decreased during the follow-up period significantly in the amputation group but not in the hysterectomy group. The results clearly indicate that the view of an increased risk for depression or other psychic complications after removal of the uterus should be revised. On the other hand, the results support our earlier findings that supravaginal uterine amputation is still an applicable method in benign conditions.

Adult↗