ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives: Headache is an extremely common symptom and collectively headachedisorders are among the most common of the nervous system disorders. Primary headache disorders –migraine, tension headache and cluster headache – constitute nearly 98% of all headaches; however,secondary headaches are important to recognize as they are serious and may be life threatening. The aim ofthis study is to study the prevalence of depression, anxiety and subtypes of depression and anxiety withheadaches, using pertinent clinical test profiles.Methods: A cross sectional survey conducted to study depression and anxiety symptoms in patients withheadache presenting in neurology OPD with study of MRI findings and associated medical co morbidities.Data was collected over a period of 2 months and study setting was at MGM Medical College, NaviMumbai.Results: 32% reported no depressive features, while 36% reported features suggestive of mild depression,18% had moderate depression, 8% had severe depression and 6 % reported to have very severe depression.60% of the patients reported to have mild anxiety while 22% had mild to moderate anxiety and 18% hadmoderate to severe anxiety.Conclusion: Depressive disorders are very common comorbid psychiatric disorders among the patientspresenting with headache followed by anxiety disorders. Female gender is more likely to suffer from anunderlying Depressive or Anxiety disorder. Tension type headache is one of the most common presentationin majority of these patients. Familial stressors, adjustment problems, marital disharmony and financialstressors add to the occurrence of Headache as recurring symptom as it was seen in our study.
ABSTRACT
Background and Objectives: Despite being preventable, treatable, and curable, tuberculosis (TB) remains aleading cause of mortality worldwide, with 95% of deaths occurring in low-income countries. There islimited information on the joint effect of TB and depression on health status of general population. The aimof this study is to assess the prevalence of Depression in patients of MDR TB and to study the demographicconstitution and related factors of the patients with MDR TB.Methods: This study was cross sectional survey conducted to study the prevalence of Depression in patientsof MDR TB referred for psychiatric evaluation. Data was collected over a period of 3 month(July 18 toSeptember 18) and study setting was the outpatient Department of Psychiatry at Mahatma Gandhi MissionsMedical College, Kamothe, Navi Mumbai.Results: It was found that depression was found in 52 % of the patients ranging from mild to moderate andsevere depression using PHQ 9 questionnaireConclusion: Depressive and anxiety symptoms are common among PTB patients, especially those withMDR TB. Screening for depression and other psychiatric illness is essential for identifying patients whorequire further psychosocial assessment and support.
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Perinatal period spans from conception till one-year post-partum. Pregnancy and post-partum ischaracterised by significant biological changes in a woman’s body including changes in blood pressure,blood volume, coagulability of blood and changes in immunity causing onset or relapse of certain medicaland neurological conditions, which can face diagnostic and treatment challenges during this period. We aimto present a series of 3 cases which presented with psychiatric symptoms but on further evaluation werefound to have neurological diagnosis – Cavernous Venous Thrombosis [CVT], Posterior ReversibleEncephalopathy Syndrome [PRES] & Tuberculoma.
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Background: Gastro-esophageal reflux disease (GERD) can be traced back to disorders of the gastro-esophageal junction but several psychological factors interact to affect treatment outcomes. There is sparse literature from India regarding psychological co-morbidity and personality characteristics in patients with GERD. Aim and Objectives: To study the co-morbid psychological disorders and personality profiles in patients suffering from GERD. Methods: Two hundred patients with GERD-related symptoms were randomly screened for psychological disorders and personality characteristics using 30-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ) and Sixteen Personality Factor Questionnaire (16PF) respectively. Patients who screened positive for presence of co-morbid psychological disorders were further interviewed using Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis 1 Disorders (SCID-1) to find out the type of psychological disorder. Results: The prevalence of psychological co-morbidity in patients with GERD-related symptoms in our sample was found to be 40%. Major depressive disorder was the most common psychological disorder found co-morbid in these patients. Alcohol dependence was significantly observed in males; while in females, major depressive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder was more commonly seen. Regarding personality characteristics, a higher degree of neuroticism and risk-taking attitudes was found in patients of GERD with associated psychological co-morbidity Conclusions: This study suggests that the management of GERD may include psychological evaluations and possibly interventions in standard treatment protocols.
ABSTRACT
Aims and objectives: Depression is a most common and widespread of all psychiatric disorders. Treatment of depression includes the use of antidepressants, commonly used clinically, such as tricyclic antidepressants, selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, selective norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor, and monoamine oxidase inhibitors. Certain antidepressants apart from improvement in the symptoms found to have detrimental effect on cognitive and psychomotor functions. Objective of this study was to assess and to compare the effect of sertraline and fluoxetine on cognitive and psychomotor functions. Materials and methods: Effect of sertraline and fluoxetine on psychomotor function was assessed by using critical flicker fusion frequency (CFF) and reaction time (RT) in patients of mild to moderate depression at the end of 2nd and 4th week of mono therapy. Results: Patients in both the group have their RT remained significantly higher (p < 0.001) in comparison with control and CFF remained significantly lower at the end of both the week except sertraline group in which CFF did not differ significantly from control at the end of 4th week. There was a significant rise in CFF (p < 0.05) in sertraline group as compared to fluoxetine. Sertraline showed a significant improvement (p < 0.01) in visual reaction time (VRT) at both the follow-ups and auditory reaction time (ART) (p < 0.01) at 4th week of monotherapy. Both the groups did not differ with respect to their effect on choice reaction time (CRT). Conclusion: Findings of this study support the use of sertraline which had shown less impairment of psychomotor function in patients of depression as compared to fluoxetine, in special subgroups of population who operate machinery, drive vehicle or require alertness for the work.