Do recognizable lifetime eating disorder phenotypes naturally occur in a culturally asian population? A combined latent profile and taxometric approach.

Background: We examined whether empirically derived eating disorder (ED) categories in Hong Kong Chinese patients (N = 454) would be consistent with recognizable lifetime ED phenotypes derived from latent structure models of European and American samples.

Method: We performed latent profile analysis (LPA) using indicator variables from data collected during routine assessment, and then applied taxometric analysis to determine whether latent classes were qualitatively versus quantitatively distinct.

Results: Latent profile analysis identified four classes: (i) binge/purge (47%); (ii) non-fat-phobic low-weight (34%); (iii) fat-phobic low-weight (12%); and (iv) overweight disordered eating (6%).

A community-based study of the relationship between somatic and psychological distress in Hong Kong.

Although the predominantly somatic presentation of distress has been used to explain low rates of emotional illnesses and health service use in Chinese communities, this concept of somatization has not been examined by concurrently studying the profile of somatically and psychologically distressed Chinese individuals. A random population-based sample of 3014 adults underwent a structured telephone interview that examined their sociodemographic characteristics, somatic distress (Patient Health Questionnaire-15, PHQ-15), non-specific psychological distress (Kessler Scale-6, K6), health service use, and functional impairment. Four groups of individuals identified by PHQ-15 and K6 cut-off scores were compared.

Logistic regression analysis of psychosocial correlates associated with recovery from schizophrenia in a Chinese community.

Background And Aims: More mental health services are adopting the recovery paradigm. This study adds to prior research by (a) using measures of stages of recovery and elements of recovery that were designed and validated in a non-Western, Chinese culture and (b) testing which demographic factors predict advanced recovery and whether placing importance on certain elements predicts advanced recovery.

Method: We examined recovery and factors associated with recovery among 75 Hong Kong adults who were diagnosed with schizophrenia and assessed to be in clinical remission.

Differences and similarities between functional and personal recovery in an Asian population: a cluster analytic approach.

This study gathers empirical data to test whether two forms of recovery are related: (1) the traditional outcome-based notion of recovery from a mental illness, which is called "functional recovery," and (2) the more recent, consumer-based concept of recovery in mental illness, which is called "personal recovery." A total of 150 Chinese outpatients were recruited, 75 with bipolar disorder and 75 with schizophrenia, as determined by structured clinical interview. Participants were reported to be in clinical remission for at least the previous 6 months by treating psychiatrists.

Exploring the recovery concept in bipolar disorder: a decision tree analysis of psychosocial correlates of recovery stages.

Objectives: The recovery movement has generated interest in the concept of personal recovery, but little attention has been paid to it in relation to bipolar disorder (BD). The aim of this study was to examine personal recovery in BD using a staged model, exploring whether different stages are associated with different psychosocial and clinical profiles.

Methods: Adults with BD in remission (n = 75) were recruited from an outpatient psychiatric clinic in Hong Kong.

Meta-analysis of predictors of favorable employment outcomes among individuals with bipolar disorder.

Objectives: Although several studies have reported on predictors of employment in individuals with bipolar disorder (BD), the magnitude of the impact of these variables is unclear as no previous studies have estimated the collective effect sizes (ESs). The present meta-analysis estimated ESs and explored which of these variables are associated with positive employment outcomes.

Methods: We searched for articles published between 2000 and 2011 that reported associations between sociodemographic, clinical, psychosocial, and/or cognitive variables with employment outcomes in BD.

Estimating the prevalence of problem gambling among older adults in Singapore.

This study examined the prevalence rates of problem gambling among older adults in Singapore. A stratified sampling method was used to select the nationally representative sample of 3010 older adults aged 55 years and above. The survey participants were of varying ethnicities living in the community, including Chinese, Malay, and Indian (and others).

Gastrointestinal dysfunction in Chinese patients with fat-phobic and nonfat-phobic anorexia nervosa.

Although gastrointestinal and other somatic symptoms are common in patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), and a growing cross-national literature indicates that not all anorexic patients exhibit the core diagnostic symptom of fat phobia, the relationship between somatic symptoms and anorexic illness remains unclear. Our objective was to evaluate gastrointestinal dysfunction (GD) in Chinese patients with fat phobic (FP) and nonfat phobic (NFP) anorexia nervosa. A total of 113 FP- and 28 NFP-AN outpatients underwent standardized clinical assessment and completed a new 8-item GD scale and other psychopathological measures.

A general population study of the Chinese Whiteley-7 index in Hong Kong.

Objective: To examine the psychometric properties of the Chinese seven-item Whiteley Index (WI-7) in the general population of Hong Kong.

Methods: A random community-based telephone survey of 3014 respondents aged 15-65 was conducted using a fully structured questionnaire that included the WI-7, 15-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-15), Sheehan Disability Scale (SDS), and items about the frequency of health service use, perceived helpfulness of doctors, level of satisfaction with doctors, and sociodemographic variables. A sub-sample of 199 respondents was re-interviewed to assess test-retest reliability.

Performance of the 6-item Kessler scale for measuring serious mental illness in Hong Kong.

Background: The 6-item Kessler scale (K6) promises to be a valuable epidemiological tool for assessing serious mental illness (SMI) in communities with limited resources for psychiatric research and treatment. Its performance in Chinese community has not been studied with reference to clinically assessed SMI.

Method: From a representative telephone-based population survey (n = 3014) that administered the K6, 153 participants were readministered the K6 and, on the same day, interviewed face-to-face by clinicians using the Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder, Fourth Edition, Axis I Disorder.

Prevalence and correlates of depression with atypical symptoms in Hong Kong.

Objective: Previous studies of atypical depression have been conducted in Western communities. There has been no community-based epidemiological study of atypical depression that covers the entire spectrum of bipolar disorders. The aim of the present study was to examine the 12 month prevalence of atypical depression and the differences in demographic and clinical profiles between depressed patients with and without atypical symptoms in the Chinese adult population of Hong Kong.

The changing profile of eating disorders at a tertiary psychiatric clinic in Hong Kong (1987-2007).

Objective: To examine the clinical profile of Chinese eating disorder patients at a tertiary psychiatric clinic in Hong Kong from 1987 to 2007.

Method: Data on 195 consecutive patients were retrieved from a standardized intake interview by an eating disorder specialist. Patients seen between 1987-1997 (n = 67) and 1998-2007 (n = 128) and fat-phobic (n = 76) and nonfat-phobic (n = 39) anorexic patients were compared.

Prevalence and correlates of social fears in Hong Kong.

This study examined the 12-month prevalence of social fears and their correlates in Hong Kong. A random telephone survey of 3006 Chinese individuals aged 15-45 years was conducted using a questionnaire that covered sociodemographic information, 14 social fears, age of onset, duration of fear, DSM-IV diagnostic features of social anxiety disorder and other psychosocial features. The prevalence of any social fear was 28.

A community survey of the twelve-month prevalence and correlates of bipolar spectrum disorder in Hong Kong.

Background: Recent community and clinical epidemiological studies have indicated that bipolar spectrum disorder (BSD) is a common illness. No community-based epidemiological study of BSD has been conducted in Chinese and other Asian populations.

Method: A random sample of 3016 Chinese adults underwent a telephone-based community survey that examined their twelve-month prevalences of BSD, sociodemographic characteristics, level of distress, and role impairment using the Sheehan Disability Scale.

Concordance between telephone survey classification and face-to-face structured clinical interview in the diagnosis of generalized anxiety disorder in Hong Kong.

Telephone surveys of estimating mental disorders have been found to generate comparable findings to large-scale community surveys but the concordance between telephone instruments and clinical interviews is rarely examined. In this study, 100 Chinese respondents who had taken part in a telephone-based population survey of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) in Hong Kong were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I) by clinical interviewers. The discriminability and predictive indicators of the telephone survey instrument were assessed using receiver operating characteristic analysis.