Treating acute anxiety in patients with COVID-19.

At present, there are no firm guidelines for the treatment of COVID-19-related emotional distress. The current approach is based on our knowledge of how to manage anxiety in medically ill patients, taking into consideration all associated medical comorbidities, drug-drug interactions, and the patient's specific needs and preexisting mental illness. Interventions should be implemented at the bedside to augment the patient's own resiliency in coping with these stressful events.

Medication Exposure in Highly Adherent Psychiatry Patients.

Medication exposure is dependent upon many factors, the single most important being if the patient took the prescribed medication as indicated. To assess medication exposure for psychotropic and other medication classes, we enrolled 115 highly adherent psychiatry patients prescribed five or more medications. In these patients, we measured 21 psychotropic and 38 nonpsychotropic medications comprising a 59 medication multiplex assay panel.

Association of SF-36 with coronary artery disease risk factors and mortality: a PreCIS study.

This study examined the relationships among health-related quality of life and risk factors of coronary artery disease (CAD) and all-cause mortality in high-risk cardiac patients seen in a cardiology prevention clinic. At baseline, 1785 patients (age, 53.4+/-13.

Joint modeling of longitudinal changes in depressive symptoms and mortality in a sample of community-dwelling elderly people.

Objective: To use a joint modeling approach to examine the association between longitudinal changes in depressive symptoms and mortality. Research on the relationship of depression to mortality has yielded mixed results. Limitations of previous studies include mostly one-time assessment of depression, short follow-ups, and failure to model appropriately changes in depression.

Depression and heart disease: what do we know, and where are we headed?

Depression and heart disease have an intricate association and perhaps a causal relationship. We review the current status of depression and heart disease and provide an algorithm for diagnosing and treating depression in cardiac patients that internists and cardiologists can use in their daily patient encounters.

Case study in heart-brain interplay: a 53-year-old woman recovering from mitral valve repair.

This article presents the case of a 53-year-old female attorney who underwent successful mitral valve repair for mitral valve prolapse. The patient's postoperative course was marked by refractory pain, fatigue, shortness of breath, refusal to ambulate, frequent episodes of tearfulness, and a postsurgical decline in ejection fraction through postoperative week 4. Her slow recovery prompted a psychiatric consult, during which she reported panic and a fear of "losing it.

Management of symptoms associated with advanced cancer: olanzapine and mirtazapine. A World Health Organization project.

Advanced cancer patients are polysymptomatic and often receive multiple medications for symptom relief. Common symptoms include anorexia, weight loss, delirium and depression. Olanzapine and mirtazapine may have several advantages over older agents despite increased acquisition costs.