ABSTRACT
Questionnaire based assessment scales for gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) have been utilized for assessment of the patient’s symptomatology, assessment of symptom severity and frequency, assessment of health-related quality of life and for assessment of response to treatment. A multitude of unidimensional and multidimensional questionnaires exist for making symptom assessment and monitoring quality of life in GERD. Many of the scales meet some of the parameters of an ideal evaluative GERD specific assessment instrument. Yet, there are certain shortcomings and challenges which are faced in development of GERD questionnaires. This review discusses the features of an ideal symptom assessment instrument, examines the strengths and weaknesses of currently available questionnaires.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Personal and social performance scale (PSP) has been reported as useful tool for the assessment of functioning in the psychiatric population. The authors wanted to assess the reliability and validity of the Korean version of the PSP (K-PSP). METHODS: One hundred ten patients, including out-patients and in-patients, diagnosed as schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder according to the DSM-IV criteria were participated in the study. Subjects were assessed with K-PSP, Positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS), Global assessment functioning scale (GAF),and Clinical global impression-severity (CGI-S) to evaluate cross-validation. Statistical analysis was done by the calculation of Cronbach's alpha, Pearson correlation coefficient. RESUTLS: The Cronbach's alpha coefficient of K-PSP was 0.79. The correlations of each domain of K-PSP with the total score of K-PSP were statistically significant (r= -0.46~-0.84, p<0.001). The inter-rater reliabilities of the total score of K-PSP was 0.79 (p<0.001) and individual score (r=0.775~0.783, p<0.001) relatively high. The total score of K-PSP showed a meaningful correlations with those of PANSS (r=-0.60, p<0.001), GAF (r=-0.71, p<0.001) and CGI-S (r=0.60, p<0.001). CONCLUSION: The K-PSP is the useful tool for assessment of functioning in the psychiatric population. So K-PSP can be widely used in the clinical practice and psychiatric studies.
ABSTRACT
Clinical trials have demonstrated significant benefit from low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering for primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. In the US, it is well recognized that a substantial number of hypercholesterolemic patients were not treated to the LDL-C goals recommended by the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) guidelines. In 1996, the Indonesian Heart Association (PERKI) has issued guidelines recommending goals for screening and lipid treatment in Indonesia adopted from NCEP guidelines; however, the frequency of undertreatment in Indonesia is not known. The objective of this study was to determine the percentage of patients treated with lipid-lowering therapy who reached LDL-C goals as defined by NCEP guidelines in routine clinical practice. This was a cross-sectional survey targeted physicians who regularly treated dyslipidemic patients in 13 cities in Indonesia. Participating doctors were asked on their awareness of NCEP guidelines and to complete the case record form (CRF) of the enrolled patients. One-hundred and eighty-eight (188) out of four hundreds (400) physicians who were invited, have participated in this study. Among the evaluable 1420 CRF, 1082 patients received statins, 301 used fibrates, 14 patients used combination drugs, and 23 others received non-drug treatments only. Success rates on achieving target LDL-C in low-risk, high-risk, and CHD groups were 73.0 %, 43.6 %, and 14.8 %, respectively. Overall success rate in patients using statins was 55.1 %, while in low-risk group, high-risk group, and CHD patients, the success rates with statin were 77.8%, 50.1%, and 18.6 %, respectively. Atorvastatin showed the highest success rate (77.4 %) if compared to other statins. Only 14 % of physicians were knowledgeable about the NCEP goals. Conclusion : A large number of dyslipidemic patients who were on lipid-lowering therapy were not achieving the recommended LDL-C target levels. Success rates were lower in CHD patients and high risk group. Atorvastatin seemed more effective in lowering the LDL-C to target levels. There are still many physicians in Indonesia who do not aware about the NCEP guidelines and LDL-C treatment goals.