Validation of the Brazilian brief version of the temperament auto-questionnaire TEMPS-A: the brief TEMPS-Rio de Janeiro.

BACKGROUND: Over the last thirty years, Akiskal and collaborators have described and developed operationalized diagnostic criteria for five types of affective temperaments - cyclothymic, irritable, hyperthymic, depressive, and anxious. A 110-item, yes-or-no questionnaire, the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego (TEMPS-A), was specifically developed for measuring temperamental variation. The TEMPS-A was translated into more than 25 languages and cross-culturally valid versions are now available in Italian, French, German, Japanese, Turkish, Arabic, Polish, Hungarian, Spanish and Portuguese. Recent studies in the US and in Europe, however, have suggested that shorter versions of TEMPS-A can be just as efficient as the full ones while potentially enhancing the compliance of respondents. The main objective of the present study was to validate a brief Brazilian Portuguese version of TEMPS-A (brief TEMPS-Rio de Janeiro). METHODS: Our main sample consisted of 997 undergraduate students (female = 72.6%) from seven different universities located in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. An additional group of 167 healthy senior citizens (women = 83.8%) was recruited in senior community centers in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. All participants were asked to complete the 110-item, Brazilian translation of the full version of the TEMPS-A. RESULTS: An exploratory factor analysis (PCA type 2, Varimax rotation) vying for a five-factor solution yielded mixed results, with cyclothymic traits, physical symptoms of anxiety and preoccupation with the well-being of a family member loading together on the first factor. When a forced six-factor solution was attempted, cyclothymic, irritable, hyperthymic, and depressive were delineated as predicted by the theory. The original generalized anxious temperament was split into two sharply delimited components, a "worrying" subscale and an abbreviated anxious subscale, which included physical symptoms of anxiety and concerns with the well-being of relatives. Based on the tripartite model of anxiety and depression, we proposed that the abridged anxious subscale, which includes physical symptoms of anxiety, represents the "true" generalized anxious temperament, while the "worrying" subscale corresponds to the "general distress factor". The internal consistency of the six subscales thus identified was generally good, ranging from 0.67 (anxious subscale) to 0.81 (worrying subscale), with cyclothymic, irritable, depressive, and hyperthymic subscales exhibiting intermediate values (0.74, 0.74, 0.72, and 0.7, respectively). LIMITATIONS: The present study was based on a non-clinical sample that does not reflect accurately the characteristics of the Brazilian population. The relative uniformity of the sample in terms of age and education precluded a more in-depth analysis of the influence of these highly relevant factors. Further, we did not assess convergent, divergent or test-retest validity. CONCLUSIONS: We believe that the brief Brazilian version of the TEMPS-A auto-questionnaire will provide Brazilian researchers and clinicians with a psychometrically sound instrument and thus contribute toward the creation of a worldwide research network dedicated to the investigation of affective temperaments.

Transtorno do pânico, dor torácica e clínica cardiológica - Estudo de pacientes submetidos a teste de esforço em um hospital do INAMPS / Panic disorder, chest pain and cardiology

Estudos recentes mostram elevada freqüência de transtorno de pânico em pacientes tratados pelos cardiologistas. Há poucos estudos psiquiátricos envolvendo os pacientes submetidos ao teste de esforço. Foi utilizada a Entrevista Clínica Estruturada (SCIDðI) para a DSMðIIIðR em 115 pacientes submetidos ao teste de esforço, divididos em dois grupos, de acordo com a existência (ou não) de cardiopatia: 74, para investigar possível isquemia miocárdica como causa da dor precordial (formando o grupo teste de esforçoðdiagnóstico); e 41, com cardiopatia comprovada (formando o grupo controle). Cerca da metade (46,2 por cento) daqueles com dor precordial e resultados normais no teste de esforçoðdiagnóstico sofriam de transtorno do pânico, versus 12,5 por cento dos com resultado anormal (X² = 4,609; p = 0,032) no teste de esforçoðdiagnóstico, e versus 9,7 por cento do grupo controle (X² = 13,0; p < 0,001). A elevada freqüência de transtorno de pânico entre os pacientes com resultado normal (46 por cento) no teste de esforçoðdiagnóstico aponta para a necessidade de se treinar cardiologistas, bem como outros especialistas, para o diagnóstico precoce e tratamento desta afecção

Transtorno do panico, dor toracica e clinica cardiologica

Estudos recentes mostram elevada frequencia de transtorno de panico em pacientes tratados pelos cardiologistas. Ha poucos estudos psiquiatricos envolvendo os pacientes submetidos ao teste de esforco. Foi utilizada a Entrevista Clinica Estruturada (SCID-I) para a DSM-III-R em 115 pacientes submetidos ao teste de esforco, divididos em dois grupos, de acordo com a existencia (ou nao) de cardiopatia: 74, para investigar possivel isquemia miocardica como causa da dor precordial (formando o grupo teste de esforco-diagnostico); e 41, com cardiopatia comprovada (formando o grupo controle). Cerca da metade (46,2 por cento) daqueles com dor precordial e resultados normais no teste de esforco-diagnostico sofriam de transtorno do panico, versus 12,5 por cento dos com resultado anormal (x=4,609; p=0,032) no teste de esforco-diagnostico, e versus 9,7 por cento do grupo controle (x=13,0; p<0,001). A elevada frequencia de transtorno de panico entre os pacientes com resultado normal (46 por cento) no teste de esforco-diagnostico aponta para a necessidade de se treinar cardiologistas, bem como outros especialistas, para o diagnostico precoce e tratamento desta afeccao.