[Clinical effectiveness of home treatment as compared to inpatient treatment at the Alexianer Hospital Krefeld, Germany]. / Psychiatrische Akutbehandlung ohne Krankenhausbett-Klinische Wirksamkeit von "Home Treatment" am Beispiel der "Integrativen Psychiatrischen Behandlung (IPB)" am Alexianer-Krankenhaus Krefeld.

BACKGROUND: Although all relevant guidelines recommend "home treatment" (HT) as part of psychiatric care, this strategy is very rarely applied in the German mental health system. For the first time HT was introduced in Germany as "integrative psychiatric treatment" (IPT) at the Alexianer Hospital in Krefeld. In the present study IPT was compared for the first time with inpatient treatment considering patient characteristics, drop-out rates, effects on symptoms and rehopitalisation after treatment. METHOD: 106 patients who had been treated by IPT in 2001 (or subgroups) were compared to patients who were treated as inpatients in the same year (or subgroups). RESULTS: Regarding sample characteristics IPT patients were significantly older and more often female than inpatients. Inpatients were more frequently diagnosed with organic, schizophrenia or personality disorders. The drop-out rate from IPT (inpatient stay during IPT treatment) was 17.9 % (n = 19). The pre-post effect sizes on symptoms in 14 randomly selected patients with schizophrenia were very large (d = 1.7 - 2.6). At two-year follow-up there were no differences between IPT and a matched inpatient sample with respect to days spent in inpatient treatment (25.4 vs.27.9 days). CONCLUSION: In the German mental health system, at least in a subgroup of severely mentally ill patients, treatment effects of HT are comparable to the effects of inpatient treatment.

Long-term treatment of cervical dystonia with botulinum toxin A: efficacy, safety, and antibody frequency. German Dystonia Study Group.

Data from 616 patients suffering from idiopathic cervical dystonia were analyzed to determine the efficacy and safety of treatment with botulinum neurotoxin type A (BoNT/A). Since the specific purpose of this study was to determine the long-term effects of this treatment, the analysis focused specifically on the patients (n = 303) having received six or more injections. Statistical analysis of a standardized documentation showed sustained significant benefit as measured by a disease severity score independent of the type of cervical dystonia. Furthermore, pronounced individual differences were found in response to this treatment although initial clinical scores and doses of BoNT/A were similar. There was no indication of previously unknown adverse events, the only risk being the development of serum antibodies against the toxin. As in previous studies on short-term effects of BoNT/A treatment, the most frequent adverse event was dysphagia, which occurred on average 9.7 days after injection and lasted on average 3.5 weeks. While secondary nonresponse was seen in approx. 5% of patients, antibody tests revealed neutralizing serum antibodies in only 2%. On the basis of the present data, therapy of cervical dystonia with BoNT/A seems to be safe and yields good stable results even after 5 years of treatment.

Modifiable stroke risk factors in volunteers willing to participate in a prevention program.

The current trends in stroke incidence require continued efforts to improve primary prevention. Compared to large-scale public health approaches, more limited programs targeting volunteers may offer some advantages. We invited all 12,824 members of a health insurance company program who lived within 50 km form one of two study sites to participate in a vascular screening program and aimed at reducing modifiable risk factors. 1,837 persons registered and participated (14.3%, mean age 53 +/- 12 years, 50% men). Using the Framingham stroke risk profile for persons aged 55 years or above (n = 961, 52.3%), 97 stroke events can be predicted for this age group within 10 years. The majority of these 97 events will occur in those with men resting blood pressure values +/- 140mm Hg (systolic) or +/- 90 mm Hg (diastolic; 420 persons, mean age 64 +/- 7 years, 60 expected events), or with a particularly high age- and sex-adjusted risk (288 persons, mean age 68 +/- 7 years, 60 expected events). Our pilot study provides an estimate of the prevalence of modifiable vascular risk factor among volunteer participants of a prevention program. Possible benefits of this approach will be investigated in a second step using a randomized intervention.