Disability and depressive symptoms in two communities.

A community survey conducted in Kansas City, Mo., and Washington County, Md., revealed a significant association between symptoms of depression and self-reported disability. No demographic variables showed any consistent relationship to disability. The findings underscore the need for programs designed to identify and treat depression. In addition, any study using disability as an outcome measure must control for level of depressive symptoms.

The East Baltimore study. II. Familial aggregation of plasma lipid levels in juveniles in a black inner-city population.

Familial aggregation of plasma lipid levels among 676 black juveniles, aged less than 20 years and residing in 202 households in East Baltimore, Maryland, was assessed by the intraclass correlation coefficient of residuals from sex-specific cubic regressions on age. Significant aggregation of both plasma cholesterol (r = 0.23, p less than 0.005) and plasma triglyceride (r = 0.27, p less than 0.005) levels were found. In addition, no effect on familial aggregation was found for each of several measures of family structure: number of juvenile household members, closeness in age, all children over 9 years of age, or shared surname. Two methods of classifying juvenile household size were compared. An association between classification method and juvenile household size was demonstrated (p less than 0.005) for the distributions of households and of children. The intraclass correlation coefficients for plasma cholesterol and plasma triglyceride for households classified by number of juveniles were higher than the coefficients for the house grouped by the number of juveniles admitted to the study, when compared for each classification number, 2 through 4. Evidence for an effect on familial aggregation of the socioeconomic status was shown by a comparison of intraclass correlation coefficients from households in East Baltimore with those from white and black households from the Columbia Medical Plan which have higher levels of occupation and education. Higher correlations were shown for the groups with higher socioeconomic status, regardless of race.

Influence of demographic characteristics on two measures of depressive symptoms: the relation of prevalence and persistence of symptoms with sex, age, education, and marital status.

Respondents from community and inpatient populations were asked to recall for the preceding week the prevalence (presence of symptom at any time) and persistence (presence of symptom for five to seven days) of 16 symptoms associated with depression. The rates were adjusted for four-variable combinations of sex, age, education, marital status, and clinical status. For the majority of symptoms, statistically significant associations were found between prevalence and sex, age, and marital status and between persistence and education. These results suggest that white women, young adults, and those not currently married have a higher prevalence of transient depressed affect than those in the other categories of each variable, while the less well-educated are at greater risk than those in other education categories of having the depressive syndrome requiring therapeutic intervention.

Current medication use and symptoms of depression in a general population.

In a community survey, 41.8% of 771 men and 60.2% of 1,059 women reported having used one or more medications in the 48 hours before the interview. The use of medications and the number of medications used increased progressively with age among both men and women. Respondents who used four or more medications included significantly more high scores on a depression checklist than those who used fewer medications. The group of women who used minor tranquilizers and sedatives included significantly more high depression scorers than those who did not. Among both sexes, those scoring in the depressed range who were receiving psychotropic medication tended to be taking minor tranquilizers or sedatives.

The association of smoking and drinking habits in a community sample.

A general population survey showed a significant though modest correlation between smoking and drinking habits. Heavy drinkers who are also smokers appear to be at high risk of developing drinking problems.

Presence and persistence of depressive symptoms in patient and community populations.

The authors used a questionnaire to assess presence and persistence of 16 depression-associated symptoms in two inpatient groups and a random community sample. Nondepressed inpatients were more likely than the community population to experience psychological symptoms of depression, but persistence of the symptoms was the same for both groups. In contrast, significantly more depressed patients than community respondents indicated presence for all but 2 symptoms and persistence for all but 1. Thus persistence of symptoms may be more specific to depression than mere presence.

Recognition of depressed affect in hospitalized psychiatric patients: staff and patient perceptions.

A comparison of self-report vs. observer rating of depressed mood in a heterogenous inpatient population revealed wide variations in concordance among diagnostic groups. Patients diagnosed as having Affective Psychosis and ""Other'' illnesses showed the highest correlation between four self-report scales and an observer rating scale. Patients with a diagnosis of depressive Neurosis showed only modest correlation, while Schizophrenics revealed no significant correlation, on these instruments, suggesting inconsistent communication of affect from Schizophrenic patients to observers. In contrast, when self-report scales were intercorrelated, patients in all four diagnostic categories showed highly significant correlations, indicating that they were consistently reporting their affective state on these instruments. The implications of these findings for future research as well as for practical clinical management are discussed.

Lipogenesis and glyceride synthesis in the rat: response to diet and exercise.

The responses of hepatic and adipose tissue malic enzyme (ME), citrate cleavage enzyme (CCE), glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6PD), and glyceride synthetase (GS) to exercise training and exhaustive exercies and the potential of a high fat or high carbohydrate diet to modify these responses were studied in male Carworth rats. Characteristic elevation and depression of ME, CCE, and G6PD were decreased in skeletal muscle, liver, and adipose tissues of high carbohydrate-fed rats. A significant two-way diet-training interaction was indicated for hepatic ME and G6PD. This interaction resulted from an apparent training modulation of ME and C6PD responses to the high fat and high carbohydrate diets. Adipose tissue G6PD was significantly decreased by training. Exhaustive exercise performed immediately prior to sacrifice did not significantly alter ME or CCE activities in either liver or adipose tissues, but decreased adipose tissue G6PD in untrained rats. Exhaustion was also associated with decreased GS activity in muscle and liver. Physical training was associated with a significant increase in GS in muscle and adipose tissues. In contrast to glyceride synthesis, no increase in adipose tissue lipogenic potential was noted in response to training, indicating that the physically trianed rat may have an enhanced ability to store but not synthesize fatty acids.