Publications by authors named "Carlos GoMEZ-Restrepo"

Background: Stressful life events (SLEs) are associated with increased risk of depression or anxiety. Coping mechanisms may moderate this relationship but little is known on this topic in young people or in Latin America.

Aim: To investigate whether coping strategies predict odds of depression and/or anxiety and moderate the relationship between SLEs and depression and/or anxiety in young people in Peru, Lima and Bogotá.

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Objective: Adolescents frequently experience mental distress. However, there is little research on community activities that help adolescents recover from depression and anxiety. This study investigated the outcomes and experiences of music workshops for helping adolescents overcome anxiety and/or depression.

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Background: Latin American youth have a high prevalence of mental health disorders and face major socioeconomic and public safety problems. This study assesses the association between stressful life events (SLEs) and depression, anxiety, and quality of life among adolescents and young adults from deprived neighbourhoods of Latin America.

Methods: The sample consisted of 2,402 participants, between adolescents (15-16 years) and young adults (20-24 years), from Bogotá (Colombia), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Lima (Peru), assessed in 2021-2022 and recruited in education and community settings and social media.

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Background: Little is known about the incidence of delirium and its subtypes in patients admitted to different departments of university hospitals in Latin America.

Objective: To determine the incidence of delirium and the frequency of its subtypes, as well as its associated factors, in patients admitted to different departments of a university hospital in Bogotá, Colombia.

Methods: A cohort of patients over 18 years of age admitted to the internal medicine (IM), geriatrics (GU), general surgery (GSU), orthopaedics (OU) and intensive care unit (ICU) services of a university hospital was followed up between January and June 2018.

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Introduction: Severe mental disorders can cause significant and lasting distress for patients and their families and generate high costs through the need for care and loss of productivity. This study tests DIALOG+, an app-based intervention to make routine patient-clinician meetings therapeutically effective. It combines a structured evaluation of patient satisfaction with a solution-focused approach.

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Introduction: The management of long-term physical conditions is a challenge worldwide, absorbing a majority resources despite the importance of acute care. The management of these conditions is done largely in primary care and so interventions to improve primary care could have an enormous impact. However, very little data exist on how to do this.

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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted mental health. Up to a quarter of the population has reported mental health disorders. This has been studied mainly from a nosological perspective, according to diagnostic criteria.

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Background: Educational settings are ideal for promoting mental well-being and resilience in children. The challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic made evident the important role that teachers and school counselors play in the mental health of their students. Therefore, it is imperative to develop and implement cost-effective interventions that allow them to identify and address mental health problems early, especially in post-armed conflict areas, to reduce the burden of mental disorders in this population.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how the immune responses (antibodies and CD4 T cells) to SARS-CoV-2 from natural infection and vaccination change over time, focusing on variants like Mu, Gamma, and Delta.
  • It found that antibody levels decline after 6 months, particularly in mildly infected individuals, while those severely infected maintain higher levels; vaccination boosts antibody production but they also decrease over time.
  • The cross-recognition of variants showed varying effectiveness, and prior exposure to the virus influenced the immune response, suggesting important considerations for future vaccine development against emerging variants.
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The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on mental health of adolescents are emerging and require particular attention in settings where challenges like armed conflict, poverty and internal displacement have previously affected their mental wellbeing. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of anxiety symptoms, depressive symptomatology, probable post-traumatic stress disorder and resilience in school-attending adolescents in a post-conflict area of Tolima, Colombia during the COVID-19. A cross-sectional study was carried out with 657 adolescents from 12 to 18 years old, recruited by convenience sampling in 8 public schools in the south of Tolima, Colombia, who completed a self-administered questionnaire.

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Objective: Evaluation of the effectiveness of integration of depression and alcohol use disorder care into primary health care in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is limited. The authors aimed to quantify the effectiveness of integrating mental health care into primary care by examining depression and alcohol use disorder outcomes. The study updates a previous systematic review summarizing research on care integration in LMICs.

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Background: Colombia is a middle-income country in South America, which has historically had high rates of mental health problems, coupled with a scarcity of mental health care. There is growing concern for the mental health of the adolescent population within this region. There is a significant treatment gap for young people, especially those living in the most vulnerable areas.

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Introduction: First case of COVID-19 in Colombia was diagnosed on March 6th. Two weeks later, cases have rapidly increased, leading the government to establish some mitigation measures.

Objectives: The first objective is to estimate and model the number of cases, use of hospital resources and mortality by using different R0 scenarios in a 1-month scenario (from March 18 to April 18, 2020), based on the different isolation measures applied.

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Unlabelled: We sought to explore mental health and psychosocial impact among young people (18 to 24 years old) in Bogotá during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: We carried a cross sectional study using a web-based survey to assess mental health and personal impact among 18 to 24 years old living in Bogotá during the first 4 months of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. The depressive symptoms were measured with PHQ-8 and anxiety symptoms with (GAD-7).

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Background: Adolescents and young adults are vulnerable to developing mental distress. However, evidence suggests that more than half of the young people with symptoms of depression and anxiety overcome their distress within a year. However, there is little research on the exact resources that young people use and help them to recover.

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Background: Colombia has a long history of an armed conflict that has severely affected communities with forced internal displacement and violence. Victims of violence and armed conflicts have higher rates of mental health disorders, and children and adolescents are particularly affected. However, the mental health needs of this population are often overlooked, especially in low- and middle-Income countries, where scarcity of resources exacerbates the problem that has been further compounded by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

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Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has had an impact both in general and mental healthcare, challenged the health systems worldwide, and affected their capacity to deliver essential health services. We aimed to describe perceived changes in ease of access to general and mental healthcare among patients with a diagnosis of depression and/or unhealthy alcohol use in Colombia.

Methods: This study is embedded in the DIADA project, a multicenter implementation research study aimed at evaluating the integration of mental healthcare in primary care in Colombia.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examined the incidence, prevalence, and factors related to SARS-CoV-2 infections among healthcare workers at a university hospital in Bogotá from March 2020 to February 2021.
  • The cumulative incidence of infection was found to be 35.7% with a seroprevalence of 21.5%, highlighting a significant burden among workers.
  • Factors contributing to a higher risk of infection included being a nurse, working in high-risk areas, being overweight or obese, and having close contact with COVID-19 patients, underscoring the need for improved preventative measures.
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Objective: To explore which resources and activities help young people living in deprived urban environments in Latin America to recover from depression and/or anxiety.

Design: A multimethod, qualitative study with 18 online focus groups and 12 online structured group conversations embedded into arts workshops.

Setting: This study was conducted in Bogotá (Colombia), Buenos Aires (Argentina) and Lima (Peru).

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Background: Patient and stakeholders' involvement in the development of mental health interventions is a central part of the research process as end-user's input can improve the design of patient-centered interventions. This is particularly important when developing interventions directed towards improving the mental health of children and adolescents. The rising prevalence of mental health disorders in this population requires special attention and the development of interventions that include them as active participants is crucial.

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With the Peace Agreement between (FARC), Colombia promised healthcare to 13,000 'reincorporating' FARC ex-combatants. Shortages of healthcare workers in reincorporation camps means this promise is in danger of going unfulfilled. More information is needed to determine incentives, disincentives, and recruitment of healthcare providers to address this shortage.

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Background: Although focus groups are a valuable qualitative research tool, face-to-face meetings may be difficult to arrange and time consuming. This challenge has been further compounded by the global COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdown and physical distancing measures implemented, which caused exceptional challenges to human activities. Online focus groups (OFGs) are an example of an alternative strategy and require further study.

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