Depression and anxiety in patients with AL amyloidosis as assessed by the SF-36 questionnaire: experience in 1226 patients.

BACKGROUND: Our study examines depression and anxiety in patients with immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis, and determines the associations between the mental health problems and patient characteristics (age, gender, race, marital status, alcohol consumption, smoking status and cardiac involvement). METHODS: Patients with AL amyloidosis who completed the 36-item Short Form General Health Survey (SF-36) during initial evaluation at a single center were studied. The SF-36 included assessments of depression, anxiety, role limitation due to emotional problems and the mental health subscale score. RESULTS: From 1226 patients with AL amyloidosis, 37.0% reported depression and 46.7% reported anxiety. Patients with cardiac amyloidosis reported more anxiety (odds ratio (OR) = 1.29, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.03-1.61) and role limitation due to emotional problems (OR = 1.32, 95%CI 1.05-1.65). No significant association between cardiac involvement and depression was found (OR = 1.22, 95%CI 0.97-1.54). Men reported less anxiety (OR = 0.72, 95%CI 0.57-0.91). Patients ≥65 years experienced greater role limitation (OR = 1.36, 95%CI 1.08-1.71). Smokers (p = 0.019) and women (p = 0.006) scored lower on mental health subscales. CONCLUSIONS: Many patients with AL amyloidosis suffer from depression, anxiety and functional limitations. Psychiatric assessment and treatment is important, and further research is needed to clarify the long-term effects of depression and anxiety in AL amyloidosis. This current study was registered in ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT00898235.

Prevalence and risk factors for cannabis use in low-income pregnant women in São Paulo, Brazil.

Cannabis is the most commonly used illicit drug during the perinatal period and has potential risks to the fetus. The purpose of this study is to estimate the 1-year prevalence of cannabis use and identify associated factors for a population of low-income pregnant women in Brazil. We performed a cross-sectional analysis of 831 women surveyed using a structured questionnaire to collect sociodemographic, clinical, and substance use history. The 1-year prevalence of antenatal cannabis use was 4.2 %; reported lifetime use was 9.6 %. The presence of a common mental disorder and active tobacco smoking were independently associated with cannabis use, OR = 3.3 (95 % CI 1.65-6.59) and OR = 6.89 (95 % CI 3.45-13.8), respectively.

Alcohol Withdrawal Treatment in the Medically Hospitalized Patient: A Pilot Study Assessing Predictors for Medical or Psychiatric Complications.

BACKGROUND: Optimizing alcohol withdrawal treatment is a clinical priority, yet it is difficult to predict on presentation which patients would require benzodiazepines or in which patients withdrawal would be complicated. Detoxification studies typically exclude patients with medical comorbidities, psychiatric comorbidities, or multiple substance use disorders; therefore, it is difficult to generalize their conclusions to all types of patients. OBJECTIVE: This retrospective study with no exclusion criteria identifies the risk factors for complicated withdrawal. METHODS: A retrospective medical record review of 47 veterans admitted to a tertiary veteran's medical hospital for alcohol detoxification. Demographics, blood alcohol level, Charlson Comorbidity Index, drinks per drinking day, pre-psychiatry consult benzodiazepine administration, and length of stay were compared for veterans with complications vs those without. RESULTS: Overall, 21% patients experienced significant complications during their medically-managed detoxification, including behavioral disruptions and delirium tremens. Of the patients, 79% were initially assessed using the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol-Revised scale, and 34% continued to be monitored with the Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol-Revised scale during their hospital stay. A Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol-Revised scale score ≥15 at presentation was significantly associated with increased odds of complications (p = 0.005). There was a trend toward significance of association of complications with tachycardia, history of delirium tremens, and benzodiazepines being administered before psychiatric consultation. The groups did not significantly differ with respect to age, admission blood alcohol level, Charlson Comorbidity Index, comorbid recent substance abuse, or length of stay. CONCLUSION: Clinical Institute Withdrawal Assessment for Alcohol-Revised scale scores ≥15 at presentation was significantly associated with increased odds of complicated alcohol withdrawal (odds ratio = 28, 95% CI: 2.5-317.6, p = 0.005), which supports findings from previous studies.

Timing of referral to hospice and quality of care: length of stay and bereaved family members' perceptions of the timing of hospice referral.

Previous research has noted that many persons are referred to hospice in the last days of life. The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization collaborated with Brown Medical School to create the Family Evaluation of Hospice Care (FEHC) data repository. In 2005, 106,514 surveys from 631 hospices were submitted with complete data on the hospice length of stay and bereaved family member perceptions of the timing of hospice care. Of these surveys, 11.4% of family members believed that they were referred "too late" to hospice. This varied from 0 to 28.1% among the participating hospice programs with 30 or more surveys. Among those with hospice lengths of stay of less than a month, only 16.2% reported they were referred "too late." Although the bereaved family member perceptions of the quality of end-of-life care did not vary by length of stay for each of the FEHC domains, the perception of being referred "too late" was associated with more unmet needs, higher reported concerns, and lower satisfaction. Our results suggest that family members' perception of the timing of hospice referral-not the length of stay-is associated with the quality of hospice care. This perception varies substantially among the participating hospice programs. Future research is needed to understand this variation and how hospice programs are delivering high quality of care despite short length of stay.