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At least 163 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

PubMed1997

One-leg balance is an important predictor of injurious falls in older persons.

OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that one-leg balance is a significant predictor of falls and injurious falls. DESIGN: Analysis of data from a longitudinal cohort study. SUBJECTS: Healthy, community-living volunteers older than age 60 enrolled in the Albuquerque Falls Study and followed for 3 years (N = 316; mean age 73 years). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Falls and injurious falls detected via reports every other month. INDEPENDENT VARIABLES: Baseline measures of demographics, history, physical examination, Iowa Self Assessment Inventory, balance and gait assessment, and one-leg balance (ability to stand unassisted for 5 seconds on one leg). RESULTS: At baseline, 84.5% of subjects could perform one-leg balance. (Impairment was associated with older age and gait abnormalities.) Over the 3-year follow-up, 71% experienced a fall and 22% an injurious fall. The only independent significant predictor of all falls using logistic regression was age greater than 73. However, impaired one-leg balance was the only significant independent predictor of injurious falls (relative risk: 2.13; 95% CI: 1.04, 4.34; P = .03). CONCLUSION: One-leg balance appears to be a significant and easy-to-administer predictor of injurious falls, but not of all falls. In our study, it was the strongest individual predictor. However, no single factor seems to be accurate enough to be relied on as a sole predictor of fall risk or fall injury risk because so many diverse factors are involved in falling.

Accidental Falls↗

PubMed2004

A meta-analysis of predictors of positive health practices.

PURPOSE: To identify predictors of positive health practices from empirical studies in which the Personal Lifestyle Questionnaire was used. METHODS: Meta-analysis to determine the magnitude of the relationships between each of the predictors identified and positive health practices. Fourteen predictors of positive health practices were identified in 37 studies published since 1983; a meta-analysis was conducted on 14 predictors. RESULTS: Eight predictors (loneliness, social support, perceived health status, self-efficacy, future time perspective, self-esteem, hope, and depression) had moderate effect sizes, and six (stress, education, marital status, age, income, and sex) had small effect sizes. CONCLUSIONS: Findings enable health care professionals and researchers designing intervention studies to use the strongest predictors identified in this meta-analysis to promote positive health practices.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Predictors of tooth loss in two US adult populations.

OBJECTIVES: This study determines tooth loss rate over a 10-year period and identifies predictors of tooth loss in two separate US adult longitudinal study populations. METHODS: Subjects from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging (BLSA), consisting of 47 men and 47 women, ages ranging from 30 to 69 years, were compared to subjects from the VA Dental Longitudinal Study (VADLS) in Boston, MA, consisting of 481 men in the same age range. Baseline and follow-up examinations were performed on each cohort over a 10-year period. Using multivariate regression models, significant predictors of tooth loss were identified. RESULTS: A mean rate of tooth loss of 1.5 teeth lost per 10 years was noted in the VADLS cohort compared to 0.6 teeth lost per 10 years in the BLSA (P < .001). Combining subjects from both populations, significant predictors of tooth loss were baseline values of: percent of teeth with restorations, mean probing pocket depth score, age, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, number of teeth present, and male sex. However, the set of significant predictor variables differed between the two populations and sexes. In BLSA men, number of teeth present, percent of teeth with restorations, mean probing pocket depth score, and alcohol consumption, but not age, were significant, while in BLSA women, only age was a significant predictor. CONCLUSIONS: Over a 10-year period, the incidence of tooth loss, the rates of tooth loss, and the predictors of tooth loss were found to vary by population and by sex. These results illustrate the limits of generalizing tooth loss findings across different study cohorts and indicate that there may exist important differences in risk factors for tooth loss among US adult populations.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Patient characteristics compete with dose as predictors of acute treatment toxicity in early phase clinical trials.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify patient characteristics that may be risk factors or markers of susceptibility to adverse treatment effects in cancer Phase I and II clinical trials. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 459 patients enrolled in 23 therapeutic Phase I and II studies at the Fox Chase Cancer Center were included in the analysis. Patient-specific characteristics, medical and treatment history, doses of experimental agents, and graded toxicities were extracted from case report forms. We developed a novel summary measure, the toxicity index (TI), to better discriminate patients on the basis of their overall toxicity experiences. Mixed model ANOVA was used to model TI on the basis of data from all trials using a specific agent. Generalized estimating equations in the context of binary logistic regression were used to model dose-limiting toxicity. RESULTS: Seventeen pretreatment factors, including performance status, alkaline phosphatase, total bilirubin, serum creatinine, and tobacco use, emerged as significant predictors of toxicity as defined by dose-limiting toxicity or TI. Unexpectedly, dose was not always a predictor of toxicity. Even for values within the normal range, the TI identified serum bilirubin and alkaline phosphatase as predictors of toxicity after treatment with docetaxel and alkaline phosphatase as a predictor for toxicity after treatment with irinotecan. CONCLUSIONS: Independent of dose, certain pretreatment characteristics, including measures of organ function that are in the normal range, were found to be predictors of treatment toxicity. Because of its sensitivity to differences in overall toxicity, the TI should prove to be a useful tool for identifying predictors of chemotherapy-related toxicity.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Education, activity, health, blood pressure and apolipoprotein E as predictors of cognitive change in old age: a review.

BACKGROUND: Cross-sectional studies have identified a number of health and lifestyle factors that correlate with cognitive function in old age. It is important to know whether these factors also predict change in cognitive function over time. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate published findings on genetic, health and lifestyle predictors of cognitive change in late adulthood. METHODS: Studies reporting data on education, health, blood pressure, activity and apolipoprotein E (APOE) as predictors of cognitive change were reviewed. A total of 34 studies were identified that reported data on these predictors. The average follow-up period of studies reviewed was 7.68 years. RESULTS: Results showed that education, hypertension, objective indices of health and cardiovascular disease, and APOE were associated with cognitive change. Results regarding the effect of physical activity on cognitive change were inconclusive. CONCLUSION: Despite the lack of data on some predictors, the longitudinal trends are generally consistent with cross-sectional findings on predictors of cognitive performance in old age. More research is required to compare the influence of predictors on different types of cognitive abilities.

Aged↗

PubMed2001

Detection of the 67-kD laminin receptor in prostate cancer biopsies as a predictor of recurrence after radical prostatectomy.

OBJECTIVES: Reliable prognostic indicators are needed for a better pretherapeutic assessment of the agressiveness of organ-confined prostate cancer (PC) lesions. The 67-kD laminin receptor (67LR) is a cell-surface-associated protein involved in the acquisition of the invasive and metastatic phenotype of a variety of human cancer cell types. We have previously shown that 67LR detection in PC tissues from radical prostatectomy (RP) specimens is an independent predictor of biochemical (PSA) relapse in patients with clinically localized PC. In this study, we assessed 67LR detection in diagnostic PC biopsies as a predictor of biochemical relapse after RP. METHODS: Diagnostic biopsy and subsequent RP tissue specimens from 151 patients with clinically localized PC were immunohistochemically analyzed for 67LR expression. The level of 67LR expression was evaluated by both intensity and extent of the staining. Clinicopathological preoperative and postoperative parameters, including 67LR expression, were correlated with each other and tested as predictors of biochemical relapse. RESULTS: 67LR was detected in 67.5 and 68.2% of biopsies and RPs, respectively. 67LR detection in RP specimens was an independent predictor of relapse. The level of 67LR expression in the biopsy was significantly associated with the biopsy Gleason score (p<0.05) but failed to predict the pathological stage (p>0.1). Biochemical progression-free estimates for patients whose biopsy did or did not express the protein differed with only borderline statistical significance (p = 0.05). Multivariate analysis identified biopsy Gleason score as the only independent preoperative predictor of recurrence. Significant discrepancies in levels of 67LR expression were found between matched biopsy and RP specimens (p<0.05), with exact agreement rates <40%. CONCLUSIONS: 67LR detection in PC biopsies was not a significant preoperative predictor of outcome after RP. Heterogeneity of 67LR expression and biopsy sampling errors most likely represented the main reasons for discordant results between biopsy and RP specimens.

Adenocarcinoma↗

PubMed1997

Psychiatric status, quality of life, and level of care as predictors of outcomes of acute inpatient treatment.

OBJECTIVE: The study examined the role of five types of variables--demographic characteristics, psychiatric status, functional quality of life, satisfaction with quality of life, and level of care--in predicting key outcomes of inpatient treatment. METHODS: Multivariate canonical regression and univariate multiple regression models were constructed using data from 1,053 inpatients at a public hospital in Washington State. The models were used to predict length of stay, change in symptom severity during hospitalization, psychiatrists' ratings of patients' insight into their illness at discharge, patients' global satisfaction with life, and rehospitalization within 18 months. Hierarchical stepwise procedures were used to select variables that were significant predictors of outcomes. RESULTS: All five classes of predictors were related to the outcomes. The roles of demographic characteristics and diagnoses were minimal. Previous hospitalization and severity of symptoms at admission were strong predictors of psychiatric status. Indicators of functional quality of life and satisfaction with quality of life explained significant variance in all models after accounting for the other classes of predictors. Frequency of family visits was the strongest functional quality-of-life predictor, relating to positive outcomes. Pretreatment satisfaction with life was a significant predictor of most outcomes, and increased satisfaction was associated with positive outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Patients' quality of life before psychiatric inpatient treatment predicted treatment outcomes independently of psychiatric status, demographic characteristics, and level-of-care variables. Prospective studies are needed to predict outcomes using multidimensional constructs.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2006

Promoting smoking cessation among the elderly: what are the predictors of intention to quit and successful quitting?

PURPOSE: To assess the predictors of smoking cessation and intention to quit among the Chinese elderly smokers. DESIGN: A cross-sectional survey of elderly smokers. SETTING: Shamsuipo district, Hong Kong. SUBJECT: A total of 1,318 elderly were interviewed (response rate = 83%). MEASURES: A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire sought information on the subject's sociodemographic background and smoking habits. The predictors for successful quitting and intention to quit were assessed by chi-square tests and multiple logistic regression. RESULTS: Of the respondents, 20.2% were current smokers, 25.4% were ex-smokers, and 54.4% were never smokers. Of the smoker (current and ex-smokers) respondents, 55.7% (335/601) had successfully quit at the time of enumeration. The predictors of quitting were living with others, receiving assistance for mobility, being nondrinkers, smoking for shorter duration, and smoking more cigarettes per day. Having health problems in the past, smoking for shorter duration, and smoking fewer cigarettes per day were predictors of intention to quit smoking. CONCLUSION: The study identified several predictors of successful quitting that could help improve the provision of current smoking cessation services. Population-based smoking cessation programs, especially those targeted to elderly, should take these predictors into consideration in the design of interventions.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

Gastric cancer: establishing predictors of biologic behavior with use of population-based data.

BACKGROUND: Tumor thickness and nodal status are important predictors of survival following curative resection for gastric cancer. Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) is a potential predictor of biological behavior. The relationship between LVI and tumor thickness (T status) has not been established in population-based studies. METHODS: Clinicopathological and survival data of 577 patients at nine centers, from between 1991 and 1997, was collected from patient records and a Provincial Cancer Registry. The primary endpoint of the study was death. A secondary analysis of a node-negative subgroup examined the significance of LVI with respect to T status. RESULTS: The population disease-specific survival was 28%. In a multivariate analysis, T, N, M, esophageal margin, tumor morphology, and residual tumor category were independent predictors of survival. LVI was documented in 58% of resected tumors. LVI correlated with advancing T and N status but was not significant in a multivariate population model. Subgroup analysis of node-negative gastric cancer found T status and LVI to be independent predictors of survival. LVI was associated with a 5-year survival of 8%, versus 43% among patients in whom it was absent (P <.001). CONCLUSIONS: T status and N status were the most important independent predictors of survival in a population-based study of gastric cancer. LVI correlated with advancing N and T status. Multivariate analysis of node-negative patients showed LVI and T status are independent predictors of survival.

Adenocarcinoma↗

PubMed2003

Assessing predictors of influenza and pneumonia vaccination in rural senior adults.

The overall purpose of this study was to identify predictors of influenza and pneumonia vaccination among rural senior adults. A mail survey was conducted in eight rural counties. Reported immunization rate for influenza (81.5%) among respondents was higher as compared to pneumonia (74.7%). Knowing someone with influenza was the strongest predictor of influenza vaccination and knowing someone with pneumonia was the strongest predictor of pneumonia vaccination. Belief that vaccinations are always beneficial was also a significant predictor. While several of the findings of this study are consistent with factors reported in literature to be significant predictors of immunization behavior for this age group, surprisingly, access was not a significant predictor for this rural sample.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

Assessing predictors of influenza and pneumonia vaccination in rural senior adults.

The overall purpose of this study was to identify predictors of influenza and pneumonia vaccination among rural senior adults. A mail survey was conducted in eight rural counties. Reported immunization rate for influenza (81.5%) among respondents was higher as compared to pneumonia (74.7%). Knowing someone with influenza was the strongest predictor of influenza vaccination, and knowing someone with pneumonia was the strongest predictor of pneumonia vaccination. Belief that vaccinations are always beneficial was also a significant predictor. While several of the findings of this study are consistent with factors reported in literature to be significant predictors of immunization behavior for this age group, surprisingly, access was not a significant predictor for this rural sample.

Aged↗

PubMed2006

Predictors of emotional strain among spouse and adult child caregivers.

This study used data from the 1999 National Long Term Care Survey to examine predictors of emotional strain between spouse and adult child caregivers using the frameworks of role theory and the stress process model. Secondary data analysis examined if and how emotional strain differed between the groups and what the predictors of emotional strain were for each group. Common group predictors of emotional strain were elder's disruptive behaviors, caregiver's perceived overload, family disagreement, limitations on the caregiver's life, and utilization of personal coping strategies by the caregiver. There were predictors unique to spouse's emotional strain but elders' race and respite availability were unique predictors of adult child caregiver's emotional strain. Ways in which predictors of emotional strain can be used to design effective and efficient social work interventions are discussed.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2005

Search for predictors of nontherapeutic INR results with warfarin therapy.

BACKGROUND: The effectiveness and safety of warfarin require maintaining an international normalized ratio (INR) within the therapeutic range. OBJECTIVE: To identify predictors of nontherapeutic INR results in patients receiving warfarin. METHODS: A retrospective study was conducted using 350 ambulatory care patients from a broad geographic region, all receiving long-term warfarin therapy and followed in a tertiary-care cardiology clinic. Possible predictors of nontherapeutic INR results (gender, age, body weight, body mass index, height, race, tobacco use, alcohol use, warfarin dose, therapeutic indication, regimen intensity, INR monitoring frequency/category, interacting medications, adverse events) were assessed with logistic regression models. Subset analysis involved 146 patients concurrently monitored with capillary whole blood INR (CoaguChek). RESULTS: As measured on venous specimens, 52% (182/350) of the patients had subtherapeutic INR results and 13% (44/350) had supratherapeutic INR results despite frequent (< or =4 wk) monitoring in 75% of the patients. Due to the small sample size, supratherapeutic INR results could not be further analyzed. Of 19 predictors tested, only daily warfarin dose (p < 0.02) and regimen intensity (p < 0.03) were significant independent and additive predictors of subtherapeutic results. Patients on the high-intensity regimen (INR 2.5-3.5) and receiving warfarin < or =6 mg/day had >50% risk of having subtherapeutic INR results. Subtherapeutic CoaguChek results were independent predictors of subtherapeutic venipuncture INR results in the subset (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In the absence of readily identifiable predictors, only higher warfarin dosing and/or more frequent monitoring (possibly with point-of-care/home monitoring devices) may minimize the time that INRs are subtherapeutic, especially in patients receiving low-dose and/or high-intensity anticoagulation therapy.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Free testosterone is an independent predictor of BMD and prevalent fractures in elderly men: MrOS Sweden.

UNLABELLED: The role of androgens for bone health in elderly men is unclear. We show that free testosterone within the normal range is a predictor of BMD at predominantly cortical bone sites and of previous osteoporosis-related fractures in elderly Swedish men. INTRODUCTION: Osteoporosis-related fractures constitute a major health concern not only in women but also in men. Previous studies have clearly shown that serum levels of estradiol are associated with BMD, whereas more conflicting data have been presented regarding the predictive value of testosterone (T) for bone health in elderly men. The aim of this study was to investigate if serum levels of T are associated with BMD and/or prevalent fractures in a large cohort of elderly men. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the Swedish part of the MrOS study (n = 2908; average age, 75.4 years), bone parameters were measured using DXA, and prevalent fractures were recorded using standardized questionnaires and by vertebral X-ray analyses. Serum levels of total T, total estradiol (E2), and sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG) were measured by radioimmunoassay, and free T (FT) and free E2 (FE2) were derived from the mass action equations. Height, weight, age, physical activity, smoking habits, and calcium intake were included together with FT and FE2 in regression models for BMD. RESULTS: FT was an independent positive predictor of BMD in total body, total hip, femur trochanter, and arm but not in the lumbar spine. The highest independent predictive value of FT was found in the arm and the hip (with a relatively high content of cortical bone). FE2 was an independent predictor of BMD at all bone sites studied, and the highest predictive value was seen for lumbar spine (with relatively high content of trabecular bone) BMD. FT but not FE2 was a positive predictor of total body bone area and BMC. FT levels below the median were independent predictors of prevalent osteoporosis-related fractures (OR, 1.56; 95% CI, 1.14-2.14; p < 0.01) and X-ray-verified vertebral fractures (OR, 2.00; 95% CI, 1.34-2.86; p < 0.001). The predictive value of FT for prevalent fractures was not affected by adjustment for BMD. CONCLUSIONS: These findings show that variation of FT within the normal range is an independent but modest predictor of BMD at predominantly cortical bone sites and of previous osteoporosis-related fractures in elderly men. Our data indicate that not only estrogens but also androgens are of importance for bone health in elderly men. Longitudinal studies investigating the predictive value of T for fracture risk in elderly men are required.

Aged↗

PubMed2025

A SuperLearner-based pipeline for the development of DNA methylation-derived predictors of phenotypic traits.

BACKGROUND: DNA methylation (DNAm) provides a window to characterize the impacts of environmental exposures and the biological aging process. Epigenetic clocks are often trained on DNAm using penalized regression of CpG sites, but recent evidence suggests potential benefits of training epigenetic predictors on principal components. METHODOLOGY/FINDINGS: We developed a pipeline to simultaneously train three epigenetic predictors; a traditional CpG Clock, a PCA Clock, and a SuperLearner PCA Clock (SL PCA). We gathered publicly available DNAm datasets to generate i) a novel childhood epigenetic clock, ii) a reconstructed Hannum adult blood clock, and iii) as a proof of concept, a predictor of polybrominated biphenyl exposure using the three developmental methodologies. We used correlation coefficients and median absolute error to assess fit between predicted and observed measures, as well as agreement between duplicates. The SL PCA clocks improved fit with observed phenotypes relative to the PCA clocks or CpG clocks across several datasets. We found evidence for higher agreement between duplicate samples run on alternate DNAm arrays when using SL PCA clocks relative to traditional methods. Analyses examining associations between relevant exposures and epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) produced more precise effect estimates when using predictions derived from SL PCA clocks. CONCLUSIONS: We introduce a novel method for the development of DNAm-based predictors that combines the improved reliability conferred by training on principal components with advanced ensemble-based machine learning. Coupling SuperLearner with PCA in the predictor development process may be especially relevant for studies with longitudinal designs utilizing multiple array types, as well as for the development of predictors of more complex phenotypic traits.

DNA Methylation↗

PubMed1993

Predictors of mortality in hemodialysis patients.

Serum biochemical measures suggestive of undernutrition have been reported to correlate with 1-yr mortality risk in prevalent groups of hemodialysis patients. The predictive power of these variables has not been reported in newly diagnosed patients or in patients whose dialysis prescription is guided by urea kinetics. The relationship of these predictors to mortality over periods of longer than 1 yr is also unreported. Therefore, the survival of 184 hemodialysis patients was examined for up to 44 months (1987 to 1991) with the Cox proportional hazards model. Baseline demographic, clinical, and biochemical parameters were used as independent variables. To adjust for bias in patient selection, the survival of patients with 12 months or less of prior dialysis at the time of enrollment ("new cases") was analyzed separately from that of patients with more than 1 yr of prior treatment ("long-standing cases"). Serum albumin was less than 3.5 g/dL in 31% of new cases and in 12% of long-standing cases. Adjusting for the other variables, low serum albumin was the strongest mortality risk predictor in both new and long-standing cases. Low serum cholesterol was an independent risk predictor in both groups. Diabetes and race were not significant predictors. Mean age at enrollment was nearly a decade higher for nonsurvivors than for survivors, in both new and long-standing groups. Yet, age was not an independent risk predictor in the Cox model for the new group because of an unexpectedly high death rate among young black men. Female gender, which was confounded by increased age, took the place of age in the model for the new group. For each model, there was good agreement between observed and predicted mortality for up to 24 months. To assess the influence of dialysis treatment time and dose (measured as pre-to-post treatment urea ratio) on risk, survival was examined in a subset of 139 patients monitored for up to 22 months, from 1989 to 1991, a period when the urea ratio was used routinely. Adjusting for the other variables, low serum albumin and cholesterol again independently increased risk. The urea ratio was also a significant independent predictor. The pattern of mortality by urea ratio was U shaped, with minimum risk for values between 2.5 and 3.4 Treatment time did not influence risk. It was concluded that baseline serum values of albumin and cholesterol strongly influence survival for up to 2 yr in new and long-standing hemodialysis patients.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Adult↗

PubMed2001

Expectant treatment of ectopic pregnancies: clinical and sonographic predictors.

OBJECTIVE: We identified the potential clinical and sonographic predictors of the spontaneous resolution of ectopic pregnancies. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We performed a prospective study of 78 consecutive patients with a transvaginal sonographic diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy who had either two consecutive quantitative measurements of their beta subunit of human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-hCG) more than 24 hrs apart or an embryo with a heart beat. We evaluated the patient's age, time from the last menstrual period, beta-hCG level, size of ectopic pregnancy, presence of a gestational sac or embryonic elements, vascularity on color Doppler sonography, peak systolic velocity, and resistive index of ectopic pregnancy at the time of presentation as potential independent predictors of the final outcome. Logistic regression was performed to identify the independent predictors. RESULTS: Forty-six patients had declining beta-hCG levels, and 32 ectopic pregnancies showed an embryo with a heart beat or had steady or rising beta-hCG levels. Univariate analysis indicated that a longer time from the last menstrual period (older ectopic pregnancies), lower beta-hCG levels, and the absence of gestational sac are statistically more significantly seen in ectopic pregnancies with declining beta-hCG levels (p < 0.05). Resistive index of ectopic pregnancy reached borderline significance (p = 0.05). In a multiple logistic model, the same variables were independent predictors of outcome (p < 0.05). Resistive index was also a predictor (p = 0.09). CONCLUSION: Longer times from the last menstrual period, lower beta-hCG levels, absence of gestational sacs, and higher resistive indexes of ectopic pregnancy at the time of presentation appear to be independent predictors of the spontaneous resolution of ectopic pregnancy.

Adult↗

PubMed1998

Predictors of response to acute treatment of chronic and double depression with sertraline or imipramine.

BACKGROUND: The literature on predictors of response to treatment of nonchronic major depression has identified shorter duration of illness, acute onset, and less severity of illness as positive predictors. Unfortunately, there are almost no data on predictors of response to treatment for chronic depression. This study examined predictors of response to pharmacotherapy (sertraline or imipramine) in the treatment of outpatients who had DSM-III-R-defined chronic major or double depression. METHOD: The acute phase of the Chronic Major Depression and Double Depression Study is a double-blind, randomized, parallel-group 12-week comparison of sertraline and imipramine. Analyses are based on 623 patients who comprised the intent-to-treat sample, of whom 299 were nonresponders and 324 were responders, defined by a priori criteria as either remission or satisfactory therapeutic response. A stepwise logistic multiple regression analysis was performed on candidate clinical, psychosocial, and demographic variables previously identified as statistically significant in an attempt to develop a predictive model of positive antidepressant response. RESULTS: The sociodemographic variables that were predictive of positive response included living with spouse or partner or being at least a high school graduate. With regard to symptomatology and clinical history, responders had significantly lower baseline depression severity scores. In general, comorbid anxiety, substance abuse, and personality disorders did not influence rates of response. However, the presence of depressive personality traits was associated with a higher nonresponse rate. Among psychosocial variables, longer duration of personal relationships as well as higher baseline quality of life were associated with positive response. A stepwise logistic multiple regression identified 5 variables-living with spouse or partner, higher educational level, passive-aggressive personality, lower introverted-tense personality traits, and higher quality of life--that significantly and independently contributed to the predictive model. This model correctly classified 67% of patients. CONCLUSION: A higher baseline quality of life, living with spouse or partner, and having more education were the strongest predictors of response to acute pharmacotherapy among chronically depressed patients. Clinical variables and comorbidity were not identified as independent predictors, although personality traits did appear to influence treatment response. Overall, the predictive value of these baseline measures was modest, and therefore of limited clinical utility.

Adult↗