Characteristics of subjects with comorbidity of symptoms of generalized anxiety and major depressive disorders and the corresponding threshold and subthreshold conditions in an Arab general population sample.

Background: There is controversy about differential meaningfulness between comorbid generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)/ major depressive disorder (MDD), the corresponding "pure" disorders and subthreshold conditions. We compared subjects who met DSM-IVTR criteria of symptoms and functional impairment for comorbid GAD/MDD, versus those with GAD, MDD, subthreshold conditions, and without significant symptoms. The comparison measures were socio-demographics, clinical severity, and quality of life (QOL).

Exploratory factor analytical study of depressive symptomatology: an Arab experience with a sample comprising college students, using the revised Beck Depression Inventory.

Background And Objectives: An understanding of the domains of depressive symptomatology could facilitate valid and interpretable comparisons across cultures. The objective of the present study was to assess the factor structure of the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) in an Arab sample comprising college students, in comparison to the international data.

Design And Setting: Cross-sectional questionnaire survey of Arab college students in their classrooms over a 1-year period.

Relationship between symptoms of major depressive and generalized anxiety disorders in an Arab population using diagnostic criteria-based instruments.

Background: The relationship between major depressive disorder (MDD) and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) has been problematic in psychiatric nosology. We examined two research questions: First, using a data-driven approach, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), will symptoms that define MDD and GAD appear together in one factor, or are they separable into the hypothesized dimensions of the disorders? Second, using a theory-driven approach, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), how will the structural integrity of the resulting factors compare with those of the various models that have been used to explain the relation between the symptoms?

Material/methods: Participants (n=3303) were a general population sample of adult Kuwaitis who self-completed the DSM-IV-TR criteria-based questionnaires for MDD and GAD. Exploratory factor analysis was by principal axis factoring, with oblique rotation.

Metabolic syndrome in severe mental disorders.

The concept of metabolic syndrome in psychiatry provides a united front for confronting a series of metabolic changes that are predictive of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), which are highly prevalent in severe mental disorders (SMDs), such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorders, and severe depression. This review attempts to answer the following questions: (1) Is there evidence of significantly increased risk of metabolic syndrome in SMDs? (2) How is this evidence explained by stress theory and functional polymorphism? (3) What role can psychopharmacology and psychosocial therapies play in minimizing the problem? We have done a historical review using related literature from Medline. Compared with the general population, metabolic syndrome is two to three times more common in SMDs.

Validity and reliability of the European Organization for Research and Treatment in Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire (EORTC QLQ): experience from Kuwait using a sample of women with breast cancer.

Background And Objectives: Although the EORTC QLQ-C30 and its breast-specific module (BR-23) are widely used instruments, the few reports on their psychometric characteristics from Arab and neighboring countries involved limited analyses. Our objective was to assess the psychometric characteristics of both questionnaires using the responses of a larger sample of Arab women.

Methods: Participants were consecutive clinic attendees at the Kuwait Cancer Control Center.

Quality of life in people with epilepsy and their family caregivers. An Arab experience using the short version of the World Health Organization quality of life instrument.

Objective: To assess the subjective quality of life (QOL) of Sudanese epilepsy patients with generalized tonic clonic seizures and their family caregivers, compared with the general population, and previous Sudanese data for chronic conditions, and to examine the predictors of QOL.

Methods: This cross-sectional study using the World Health Organization's 26-item QOL instrument, was carried out from December 2005 to December 2006, on consecutive government hospital Neurology Clinic attendees and their family caregivers, who fulfilled the study's inclusion criteria, in the cities of Khartoum, Wad Medani, and Atbara, Sudan.

Results: There were 276 patients (56.

The reliability and validity of the short version of the WHO Quality of Life Instrument in an Arab general population.

Background And Objectives: There is rising interest in quality of life (QOL) research in Arabian countries. The aim of this study was to assess in a nationwide sample of Kuwaiti subjects the reliability and validity of the World Health Organization Quality of Life (WHOQOL-BREF), a shorter version of the widely used QOL assessment instrument that comprises 26 items in the domains of physical health, psychological health, social relationships, and the environment.

Methods: A one-in-three systematic random proportionate sample of consenting Kuwaiti nationals attending large cooperative stores and municipal government offices in the six governorates completed the Arabic translation of the questionnaire.

Subjective quality of life in a nationwide sample of Kuwaiti subjects using the short version of the WHO quality of life instrument.

Objectives: The usefulness of quality of life (QOL) as an outcome measure in medicine has inspired general population studies to establish normative values. The objectives of the study were to: (1) highlight the pattern of satisfaction with aspects of life circumstances among a nationwide sample of Kuwaiti subjects, using the 26-item WHOQOL Instrument (WHOQOL-Bref); (2) establish the QOL domain normative values; (3) highlight the relationship of QOL with socio-demographic variables and scores on scales for anxiety and depression; and (4) assess the relationship between domains of QOL.

Method: A one-in-three systematic random proportionate sample of consenting Kuwaiti nationals attending the large cooperative stores and municipal government offices in the six governorates, were requested to complete the questionnaires anonymously.

Family caregiver quality of life in multiple sclerosis among Kuwaitis: a controlled study.

Background: Research interest in the quality of life (QOL) of persons with multiple sclerosis (MS) has been spurred by the need to broaden outcome measures. Far less of this interest has been directed at the family caregivers, who bear most of the burden of care. The objectives of the study were: First, to compare the subjective QOL of family caregivers of persons with relapsing remitting and progressive MS, with those of a matched general population sample and caregivers of diabetes and psychiatric patients.

Confirmatory factor analytical study of the WHOQOL-Bref: experience with Sudanese general population and psychiatric samples.

Background: The widespread international use of the 26-item WHO Quality of Life Instrument (WHOQOL-Bref) necessitates the assessment of its factor structure across cultures. For, alternative factor models may provide a better explanation of the data than the WHO 4- and 6-domain models. The objectives of the study were: to assess the factor structure of the WHOQOL-Bref in a Sudanese general population sample; and use confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and path analysis (PA) to see how well the model thus generated fits into the WHOQOL-Bref data of Sudanese psychiatric patients and their family caregivers.

The opinion of caregivers on aspects of schizophrenia and major affective disorders in a Nigerian setting.

Background: In Nigeria the burden of caring for persons with severe mental disorders rests largely on families whose attitudes to these conditions have not been explored.

Objectives: To assess the opinion of relatives of 75 schizophrenics and 20 major affective disorder cases on aspects of the disease and compare with the responses of relatives of cancer, infertility and sickle cell disease (SCD) cases.

Method: Caregivers were assessed using a burden questionnaire that contained items on etiological beliefs and attitudes to illness.

Greig cephalopolysyndactyly syndrome with dysgenesis of the corpus callosum in a Bedouin family.

We report on the first known Bedouin family with Greig cephalopolysyndactyly syndrome (MIM 175700). The index patient and his father shared pre- and postaxial polysyndactyly, mild mental retardation, and corpus callosum dysgenesis. Their phenotypic findings were compared with reported cases of both Greig cephalopolysyndactyly (GCPS) and acrocallosal syndromes.

Screening for alcoholism among alcohol users in a traditional Arab Muslim society.

The Short Michigan Alcoholism Screening Test (S-MAST) was applied to 140 alcohol users in the traditional Muslim society of Kuwait. One hundred were confirmed alcoholics and 40 were self-disclosed social drinkers in the community. The questionnaire significantly discriminated between the groups.

Social aspects of epilepsy in Kuwait.

A retrospective analysis of the in-patients' case notes of 55 chronic epileptics admitted for psychiatric treatment to Kuwait Psychological Medicine Hospital revealed that the commonest seizure type was generalized grand mal epilepsy. Adverse effects on marriage, education and occupation were common. It is concluded that epileptics are more prone to have social difficulties, and that their marital status and fertility are far from satisfactory.

Psychiatric morbidity among foreign housemaids in Kuwait.

First admission rates to the psychiatric hospital in Kuwait revealed that foreign housemaids as a whole had about five times the rate of Kuwaiti females. According to hospital diagnoses the housemaids had significantly more acute situational disturbances and mania, and less depressive illness and organic mental disorders. Regarding schizophrenia and paranoid state there was no significant difference between the two groups.