[Epidemiologic study of 20 cases of pemphigus at Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Victoria de Málaga, Spain]. / Estudio epidemiológico de 20 casos de pénfigo en el Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Victoria de Málaga.

INTRODUCTION: Pemphigus comprises a group of autoimmune blistering diseases that affect the skin and mucous membranes. Its clinical and epidemiologic features vary according to geographic location and ethnic background. OBJECTIVE: An exhaustive search of the literature reveals very few reports of the epidemiology of pemphigus in setting. Our aim, thus, was to conduct a retrospective study of the clinical and epidemiologic features of pemphigus at a secondary care hospital in Málaga, Spain. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We studied 20 patients diagnosed with pemphigus in our department over a period of 13 years (January 1995 to January 2008). RESULTS: We analyzed a large variety of clinical and epidemiologic parameters including sex; age; type of pemphigus; time since onset; associated symptoms; type, morphology, and location of lesions at the time of diagnosis; extent of skin and mucosal involvement; treatment received; treatment-related adverse effects and complications; number of hospital admissions; and patient outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Except for minor differences, our results are in agreement with published data on pemphigus regarding sex, age, and clinical presentation. According to our results, male sex is a predictor of poor prognosis as it is associated with poorer response to treatment and a higher rate of adverse effects and hospital admission.

Estudio epidemiológico de 20 casos de pénfigo en el Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Victoria de Málaga / Epidemiologic Study of 20 Cases of Pemphigus at Hospital Clínico Universitario Virgen de la Victoria de Málaga, Spain

Introducción: Los pénfigos son un grupo de enfermedades ampollosas autoinmunes que afectan a la piel y a las membranas mucosas. Sus características clínicas y epidemiológicas son variables en función de factores geográficos y étnicos. Objetivo: Si hacemos una búsqueda bibliográfica exhaustiva encontramos escasos trabajos sobre epidemiología del pénfigo en nuestro medio. El objetivo de nuestro estudio es determinar las características clínicas y epidemiológicas del pénfigo en un hospital de segundo nivel de Málaga (España), de una manera retrospectiva. Material y métodos: El estudio incluyó 20 pacientes diagnosticados de pénfigo en nuestro Servicio en un periodo de 13 años, comprendido entre enero de 1995 y enero de 2008. Resultados: Se analizaron un extenso número de parámetros clínicos y epidemiológicos, incluyendo sexo, edad, tipo de pénfigo, tiempo de evolución de la enfermedad hasta el momento del diagnóstico, sintomatología asociada, tipo, morfología y localización de las lesiones en el momento del diagnóstico, afectación de piel y mucosas, tipo de tratamiento realizado, efectos adversos y complicaciones debidas a la terapia, número de ingresos hospitalarios y evolución final de los pacientes. Conclusiones: Aunque con pequeñas diferencias, nuestros resultados están en buena consonancia con los ya existentes en la literatura en lo relativo al sexo, la edad y el perfil clínico de la enfermedad. Según nuestros datos ser varón es un factor de mal pronóstico, puesto que se asocia a una peor respuesta de la enfermedad al tratamiento y a mayor tasa de efectos secundarios y frecuencia de ingresos hospitalarios (AU)

Introduction: Pemphigus comprises a group of autoimmune blistering diseases that affect the skin and mucous membranes. Its clinical and epidemiologic features vary according to geographic location and ethnic background. Objective: An exhaustive search of the literature reveals very few reports of the epidemiology of pemphigus in setting. Our aim, thus, was to conduct a retrospective study of the clinical and epidemiologic features of pemphigus at a secondary care hospital in Málaga, Spain. Material and methods: We studied 20 patients diagnosed with pemphigus in our department over a period of 13 years (January 1995 to January 2008). Results: We analyzed a large variety of clinical and epidemiologic parameters including sex; age; type of pemphigus; time since onset; associated symptoms; type, morphology, and location of lesions at the time of diagnosis; extent of skin and mucosal involvement; treatment received; treatment-related adverse effects and complications; number of hospital admissions; and patient outcome. Conclusions: Except for minor differences, our results are in agreement with published data on pemphigus regarding sex, age, and clinical presentation. According to our results, male sex is a predictor of poor prognosis as it is associated with poorer response to treatment and a higher rate of adverse effects and hospital admission (AU)

Attentional biases and vulnerability to depression.

This study was designed to examine selective processing of emotional information in depression. It focuses on possible attentional biases in depression, and whether such biases constitute a cognitive vulnerability factor to suffer from the disorder or, on the contrary, they reflect a feature associated exclusively with the clinical level of depression. 81 participants were included in the study: 15 with a diagnosis of Major Depression; 17 were diagnosed as Dysthymia; 11 participants scored over 18 in the Beck Depression Inventory (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979); 15 participants, in whom a sad mood state was induced by an experimental mood induction (Velten technique + music, or biographical recall + music); and 23 participants as a normal-control group. All participants were presented with the emotional Stroop task. The data indicated that attentional bias was only present in the group of patients with Major Depression, so it does not seem to be a cognitive vulnerability factor for this disorder.