Anxiety and depressive symptoms in patients with conversion disorder

To determine symptom pattern of conversion disorder and its association with co-existent anxiety and depressive symptoms. Descriptive, cross-sectional study. The study was conducted in the Department of Psychiatry, Services Hospital, Lahore from August 2003 to January 2004. One hundred patients, suffering from conversion disorder, diagnosed on the basis of DSM-IV criteria, were assessed for severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms by using hospital anxiety and depression scale [HADS]. A semi-structured interview was used for demographic details. Anxiety was seen to be present in 35% of cases, depression in 29% and 31% of the patients had both anxiety and depressive symptoms. Overall co-morbidity of anxiety and depressive symptoms in conversion disorder was high i.e. 95% and only 5% of the patients were without any co-morbid anxiety and depressive symptoms. A significant association was found between depressive and sensory symptoms [p=<0.05] in patients with conversion disorders. The patients with a diagnosis of conversion disorder need to be managed for anxiety and depressive symptoms appropriately for better outcome

Translation and validation of quality of life scale, the brief version

To translate The World Health Organization quality of life scale, WHO-QOL BREF, in Urdu and validate it. Design: A descriptive study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Medical Institute, Lahore, from July 2002 to October 2002. Materials and The English version of WHO-QOL BREF was translated in Urdu and later back translated. The process was checked and evaluated at each step by a translation committee comprising of group of bilingual experts. The whole process was carried out in four stages. The translated version was further evaluated statistically in three ways to check linguistic equivalence, concept equivalence and scale equivalence. A significant level of equivalence was seen at all parameters. This study concludes that the Urdu version of WHO-QOL BREF is a reliable and valid version to be used in our population to measure the quality of life in Pakistan

Epilepsy in rural community of Pakistan: a description of one hundred patients

To establish relationship between perinatal complications and epilepsy. Design: A community-based observational and non-interventional study. Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in District Hafizabad, [Punjab] from February, 2001 to February, 2002. Subjects and One-hundred consecutive cases of epilepsy, diagnosed on International League Against Epilepsy [ILAE] classification system, were included in the study. Information regarding demographic details, type of epilepsy and etiological factors were recorded on data sheets. The majority of patients were in younger age group with male preponderance. The most common type of epilepsy seen was generalized tonic-clonic. Birth complications were reported in a significant proportion. Majority of patients having epilepsy had perinatal complications