ABSTRACT
The validity of the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was assessed in a group of 150 neurological inpatients using Receiver Operating Characteristic analysis and DSM-III-R as external criterion. As regards depressive disorders as a whole, it was found that the best trade-off between sensitivity and specificity was the cutoff score of 20. The discriminating ability of the BDI for major depressive disorder was quite satisfactory at the cutoff score of 29 contrary to the dysthymic disorder in which the discriminating power of the BDI was not acceptable. In conclusion, the use of the BDI in neurological settings is useful with cutoff scores depending on the research purposes.
Subject(s)
Depressive Disorder/diagnosis , Nervous System Diseases/psychology , Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data , Sick Role , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Brain Diseases/psychology , Depressive Disorder/psychology , Depressive Disorder, Major/diagnosis , Depressive Disorder, Major/psychology , Dysthymic Disorder/diagnosis , Dysthymic Disorder/psychology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Patient Admission , Psychometrics , ROC Curve , Reproducibility of ResultsABSTRACT
The prevalence of mental disorders (DSM-IIIR criteria) among 107 neurological inpatients was estimated, as well as the extent to which disorders were detected by neurologists. The validity of the scaled version of the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) was evaluated using Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis and DSM-IIIR as external criteria. Of the 107 patients who submitted to a structured psychiatric interview (SCID-R), 56 (52.3%) showed evidence of a mental disorder. Major depressive episode (n = 16), generalized anxiety disorders (n = 13) and dysthymia (n = 12) were the most frequent diagnoses. The neurologists recognized only 13/107 cases (12.1%). Significantly more women than men exhibited some form of mental disorder. The validation of GHQ-28 in the series of 107 neurological inpatients indicated that the best trade-off between sensitivity and specificity was the cut-off score of 5/6. The high occurrence of mental disorder, in association with the low rate of detection by the neurologists, points to the need for special attention to be paid to this problem by staff and experts.
Subject(s)
Mental Disorders/epidemiology , Nervous System Diseases/epidemiology , Personality Inventory/statistics & numerical data , Adjustment Disorders/diagnosis , Adjustment Disorders/epidemiology , Adjustment Disorders/psychology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Anxiety Disorders/diagnosis , Anxiety Disorders/epidemiology , Anxiety Disorders/psychology , Comorbidity , Cross-Sectional Studies , Depressive Disorder/diagnosis , Depressive Disorder/epidemiology , Depressive Disorder/psychology , Female , Greece/epidemiology , Humans , Incidence , Male , Mental Disorders/diagnosis , Mental Disorders/psychology , Middle Aged , Nervous System Diseases/diagnosis , Nervous System Diseases/psychology , Patient Care Team , Psychometrics , ROC CurveABSTRACT
The frequency of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been studied in 149 polytransfused thalassaemic patients and in healthy controls. Evidence for EBV infection was based on the detection of antibodies to viral capsid antigen (anti-VCA) and for HBV infection on the detection of either hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) or hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs). The frequency of anti-VCA was not significantly higher in the patients (16.4%) compared to the controls (69.8%) whereas HBV infection was more frequently observed in the patients (91.3%) than in the controls (17.3%). There was also no evidence of repeated infection or recent infection with EBV in the polytransfused patients. These data suggest that transfusion of stored blood does not represent a significant factor of spread for EBV.
