Psychological distress related to smoking cessation in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Among all causes of preventable deaths, smoking is responsible for the greatest number of deaths worldwide and predisposes to fatal, noncommunicable diseases, especially cardiovascular diseases. Lifestyle changes are effective in the treatment of patients with smoking-related diseases and assist in the prevention of premature mortality. Our objective was to investigate the available scientific evidence regarding the psychological distress related to smoking cessation in patients who have had acute myocardial infarction. To that end, we conducted an integrative review of the literature in order to summarize relevant studies on this topic. The selected databases were Scopus, PubMed Central, Institute for Scientific Information Web of Science (Core Collection), ScienceDirect, EMBASE, SciELO, LILACS e PsycINFO. On the basis of the inclusion and exclusion criteria adopted for this study, 14 articles were selected for analysis. Those studies showed that the prevalence of psychological distress is higher among smokers than among nonsmokers, and distress-related symptoms are much more common in smokers with acute myocardial infarction than in those without. Smoking cessation depends on the active participation of the smoker, whose major motivation is the underlying disease. Most studies have shown that there is a need to create treatment subgroups as a means of improving the treatment provided. This review article expands the knowledge regarding smoking cessation and shows the need to invest in future research that investigates subgroups of smokers diagnosed with the major smoking-related comorbidities, such as acute myocardial infarction, in order to develop specific interventions and psychological support strategies.

[Seroprevalence of Chagas infection among inhabitants of municipalities in the Botucatu region, State of São Paulo]. / Soroprevalência da infecção chagásica em moradores de municípios da região de Botucatu, Estado de São Paulo.

The aim of this study was to look for evidence of vector transmission of Chagas disease, in and around the homes of individuals living in municipalities in the Botucatu region who presented a positive xenodiagnosis. Fifty-eight subjects were studied and blood samples were collected from them for laboratory analysis. The results from this study showed that the individuals in both groups presented low formal education levels and had been working in unskilled professions There was a slight predominance of females. In comparison with previous conditions, it was observed that there had been a slight improvement in the subjects' housing conditions, but on the other hand there had been an increase in the numbers of individuals living in rural areas. Subjects born before 1983 presented statistically greater knowledge of and contact with triatomines than did those born from 1983 onwards. Analysis and comparison of the results from the serological tests, including indirect passive hemagglutination, indirect immunofluorescence and immunoenzymatic assay, showed that ELISA presented greatest sensitivity. The results from this study have shown that the population born from 1983 onwards did not know about the transmission vector for Chagas disease.