The Burden of Agoraphobia in Worsening Quality of Life in a Community Survey in Italy.

Objective: Current nosology redefined agoraphobia as an autonomous diagnosis distinct from panic disorder. We investigated the lifetime prevalence of agoraphobia, its association with other mental disorders, and its impact on the health-related quality of life (HR-QoL).

Methods: Community survey in 2,338 randomly selected adult subjects.

The lifetime prevalence and impact of generalized anxiety disorders in an epidemiologic Italian National Survey carried out by clinicians by means of semi-structured interviews.

Background: Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is one of the most reported diagnoses in psychiatry, but there is some discrepancy between the cases identified in community studies and those identified in tertiary care. This study set out to evaluate whether the use of clinicians as interviewers may provide estimates in a community survey close to those observed in primary or specialized care.

Methods: This is a community survey on a randomly selected sample of 2338 adult subjects.

The Burden of Comorbidity Between Bipolar Spectrum and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder in an Italian Community Survey.

The impact of the comorbidity between Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Bipolar Disorder Spectrum (BDS) remains to be clarified. The objective of this study was to examine the lifetime prevalence of OCD, the strength of the association of OCD with comorbid BDS and the role of comorbidity of OCD with BDS in the impairment of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in an Italian community survey. The study is a community survey.

Impairment of Quality of Life Associated With Lifetime Diagnosis of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder in Women - A National Survey in Italy.

Introduction: The aim of the study was to measure the lifetime prevalence of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) among women of an Italian community sample, the comorbidity of PTSD with mood and anxiety disorders and the burden attributable to PTSD in worsening the Quality of Life (QoL).

Methods: Community survey on a sample of 1961 adult women randomly selected. Tools: psychiatric clinical interview ANTAS partially derived from the SCID-DSM-IV, administered by psychologists or medical doctors; Short Form Health Survey (SF-12); Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ).

The Prevalence of Specific Phobia by Age in an Italian Nationwide Survey: How Much Does it Affect the Quality of Life?

Introduction: The study aimed to see if a community survey conducted by clinical interviewers with semi-structured psychiatric interviews shows lifetime prevalence rates of Specific Phobia (SP) similar to those found by surveys carried out by lay interviewers and if the high level of impairment found in SP may be confirmed.

Methods: This is a community survey on an Italian nationwide sample randomly selected from registers of municipalities. Tools: semi-structured ANTAS psychiatric interview derived from the SCID-DSM-IV, carried out by clinicians (psychologists or physicians); Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) as a measure of Quality of Life (QoL).

Does Mood Disorder Questionnaire identify sub-threshold bipolarity? Evidence studying worsening of quality of life.

Objective: It is debated whether the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ) can generate false positives by screening other disorders as bipolar, or identify sub-threshold bipolarity. The aim is to verify if Quality of Life (QoL) impairment in MQD positives in the community is due to MDQ positivity itself, or to psychiatric diagnosis associated with MDQ positivity (supporting the former hypothesis).

Method: Community survey.

The attributable burden of panic disorder in the impairment of quality of life in a national survey in Italy.

Introduction/objective: The aim was to measure the lifetime prevalence of panic disorder (PD) in an Italian community sample, and to estimate the burden attributable to PD in compromising the quality of life (QoL) of people diagnosed with it.

Methods: Community survey was conducted on a sample of 4,999 randomly selected adult subjects. Instruments used were semi-structured clinical interview Advanced Neuropsychiatric Tools and Assessment Schedule (ANTAS), administered by clinicians and allowing diagnosis according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder (4th ed.

Eating disorders as a public health issue: prevalence and attributable impairment of quality of life in an Italian community sample.

The prevalence of eating disorders (ED) in the community is still under debate, as well as the measure of their impact on the well-being of individuals. It was decided to evaluate the prevalence of eating disorders in an Italian community sample as well as to measure the burden of the quality of life of people and to compare it to those attributable to other chronic illnesses. A community survey of 4,999 people using a questionnaire on health services utilization, the Advanced Neuropsychiatric Tools and Assessment Schedule (ANTAS), a semi-structured clinical interview derived from the non-patient version of the DSM-IV (SCID/NP) and Short Form Health Survey (SF-12) was conducted.

Comparing factor structure of the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ): In Italy sexual behavior is euphoric but in Asia mysterious and forbidden.

Background: The introduction of screening questionnaires, such as the Mood Disorder Questionnaire (MDQ), has stimulated clinical and epidemiological studies on bipolar disorders. In this work, we studied the item response pattern of the MDQ in the Italian population and compared the results with those of the validation of the MDQ in Asian studies (Chinese and Korean), analyzing similarities and differences among the populations studied.

Methods: The sample was made up of 2278 participants, distributed as follows: 56.

Quality of life and urban / rural living: preliminary results of a community survey in Italy.

Background: The purpose of this population-based study is to examine the association between subjective quality of life and rural/urban residence in six Italian regions, including age and gender into the analysis.

Study Design: community survey.

Study Population: Samples stratified according to sex and age, drawn from municipal records.

Association of chronic hepatitis C with recurrent brief depression.

Background: Depressive syndromes, including recurrent brief depression (RBD), have frequently been observed in association with chronic diseases characterized by immune activation, such as autoimmune thyroiditis or celiac disease. However, the association of RBD with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), a disease with an increased incidence of major depressive disorders, is unknown.

Cases: 135 (83 males, 52 females) consecutive treatment-naïve patients with CHC.

The lifetime prevalence of bipolar disorders and the use of antidepressant drugs in bipolar depression in Italy.

Background: The prevalence of bipolar spectrum disorders in the community is under debate and the prescription of antidepressant drugs (ADs) in bipolar depression appears to be an underestimated problem.

Objectives: To evaluate the prevalence of bipolar disorders by means of a screening instrument in seven communities within six regions of Italy and evaluate the appropriateness and number of prescriptions for ADs in bipolar depression.

Study Design: community survey.

Benefits of exercise with mini tennis in intellectual disabilities: effects on body image and psychopathology.

The present study is aimed at evaluating the efficacy of an introductory mini tennis programme as a therapeutic aid in the psychosocial rehabilitation of participants affected by mild/moderate intellectual disability in semi-residential care.Two groups (N=12) of participants diagnosed with intellectual disability, one of which followed the mini tennis rehabilitation programme, were compared at time t0, t1 (after 2 months) and t2 (after 6 months).Psychopathological status was assessed by means of the Italian version of the Assessment and Information Rating Profile (AIRP).

Sub-threshold depression and antidepressants use in a community sample: searching anxiety and finding bipolar disorder.

Background: To determine the use of antidepressants (ADs) in people with sub-threshold depression (SD); the lifetime prevalence of mania and hypomania in SD and the link between ADs use, bipolarity and anxiety disorders in SD.

Study Design: community survey.

Study Population: samples randomly drawn, after stratification from the adult population of municipal records.

A pattern of cerebral perfusion anomalies between major depressive disorder and Hashimoto thyroiditis.

Background: This study aims to evaluate relationship between three different clinical conditions: Major Depressive Disorders (MDD), Hashimoto Thyroiditis (HT) and reduction in regional Cerebral Blood Flow (rCBF) in order to explore the possibility that patients with HT and MDD have specific pattern(s) of cerebral perfusion.

Design: Analysis of data derived from two separate data banks.

Sample: 54 subjects, 32 with HT (29 women, mean age 38.

The use of antidepressant drugs and the lifetime prevalence of major depressive disorders in Italy.

Background: The increased use of antidepressant drugs (ADs) improved the response to the needs of care although some community surveys have shown that subjects without lifetime psychiatric diagnosis (anxiety/depression) used ADs.

Objectives: To evaluate the appropriateness and amount of prescription of psychotropic drugs in people with lifetime diagnosis of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) by means of community survey with a semi-structured interview as a diagnostic instrument, administered by clinicians.

Study Design: community survey.

Strategy to Accelerate or Augment the Antidepressant Response and for An Early Onset of SSRI Activity. Adjunctive Amisulpride to Fluvoxamine in Major Depressive Disorder.

The topic of early response to antidepressant treatment has been extensively studied in major depressive disorder (MDD). We serendipitous observed an increase tolerability, a rapid response to therapy and an early onset of antidepressant fluvoxamine activity when associated with amisulpride in patients with major depressive disorder. The purpose of this study was to investigate our preliminary observations.

Adjustment Disorder: epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment.

Background: Adjustment Disorder is a condition strongly tied to acute and chronic stress. Despite clinical suggestion of a large prevalence in the general population and the high frequency of its diagnosis in the clinical settings, there has been relatively little research reported and, consequently, very few hints about its treatments.

Methods: the authors gathered old and current information on the epidemiology, clinical features, comorbidity, treatment and outcome of adjustment disorder by a systematic review of essays published on PUBMED.

Are structured interviews truly able to detect and diagnose Bipolar II disorders in epidemiological studies? The king is still nude!

Introduction: A research commentary published in 2005 pointed out that the apparently low prevalence of Bipolar Disorder diagnosis as reported by epidemiological studies may be related to the under-estimate of bipolar disorder cases generally yielded by methodological instruments that are applied in such investigations.

New Data Apparently Challenge This Notion: More recent publications have presented new results that apparently contradict the issues raised by the commentary, stating that the CIDI interview, which is used in the most important epidemiological studies is not only valid but highly reliable in identifying bipolar disorders.

Commentary: This paper analyzes the new data and concludes that they do not give a clear indication as to how reliably the CIDI can recognize undiagnosed bipolar disorder cases.

The link between neurosteroids and syndromic/syndromal components of the mood spectrum disorders in women during the premenstrual phase.

Objectives: Females with a lifetime diagnosis of major mood disorder (Bipolar Disorder BD, Major Depressive Disorder MMD) investigated during the luteal phase of their menstrual cycle and in a condition of clinical well-being showed higher blood serum concentrations of progesterone and allopregnanolone compared to healthy controls. Women with BD presented even higher levels than those affected by MDD. This study attempted to verify, in line with a dimensional approach, if the possible differences in neurohormonal levels may be directly linked to some syndromal clusters (dimensions) of the mood spectrum disorders indipendently of diagnosis.

Improving physical quality of life with group physical activity in the adjunctive treatment of major depressive disorder.

Background: The aim of the study was to compare the change in quality of life over 32 weeks in depressed women assuming antidepressant drug with (experimental group) or without (control group) physical exercise from a study which results on objective dimension of outcome were already published.

Methods: Trial with randomized naturalistic control. Patients selected from the clinical activity registries of a Psychiatric University Unit.

Add-on quetiapine in the treatment of major depressive disorder in elderly patients with cerebrovascular damage.

Background: Depressive episodes in elderly patients with cerebrovascular damage are characterized by poor responses to standard antidepressants. Recent reports have suggested that the atypical antipsychotic, quetiapine may have antidepressant properties and, in mice, may prevents memory impairment and hippocampus neurodegeneration induced by global cerebral ischemia.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy of combination therapy with quetiapine in depressed elderly patients with cerebrovascular damage.

Association of chronic hepatitis C with major depressive disorders: irrespective of interferon-alpha therapy.

Background: Mood and anxiety symptoms in chronic hepatitis C (CHC) may be related to the patient awareness of the diagnosis and prognosis, to side effects induced by interferon (IFN)-alpha treatment, as well as to substance abuse. However, the observation of metabolic alterations in patients with CHC has led to hypothesize a direct effect of hepatitis C virus (HCV) on brain function. This study was aimed at elucidating whether CHC is associated with specific anxiety or mood disorders independently of confounding factors.

Quetiapine as add-on treatment for bipolar I disorder: efficacy in preventing relapse of depressive episodes.

Objective: To assess the long-term response to add-on quetiapine therapy in patients with bipolar I disorder who were not adequately responding to standard medications.

Methods: Outpatients with bipolar I disorder (DSM-IV-TR) responding inadequately to standard treatment were observed before and after the addition of quetiapine. Symptom severity was evaluated using the Clinical Global Impressions scale for Bipolar Disorder (CGI-BP) each month.