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Illness Variables (illness + variable)

Distribution by Scientific Domains

Medical Sciences	50%

Selected Abstracts

Patients' attitudes to medicines and expectations for prescriptions

HEALTH EXPECTATIONS, Issue 3 2002
Nicky Britten MA MSc PhD
Abstract Background, Recent research has shown that patients' expectations for prescriptions influence doctors' prescribing decisions, but little is known of the antecedents of these expectations. Objectives, To test earlier qualitative research about patients' views of medicines; to describe the demographic characteristics of those holding orthodox and unorthodox views of medicines; to investigate the relationship between patients' ideal and predicted expectations for prescriptions; and to determine the relative effects of attitudinal, demographic, organizational and illness variables on these expectations. Design, Questionnaire survey of patients consulting general practitioners. Setting and participants, A total of 544 patients and 15 doctors in four general practices. Main variables studied, Patients' attitudes to medicines; patients' demographic characteristics; organizational variables; aspects of patients' presenting problems. Outcome measures, Patients' ideal and predicted expectations for prescriptions. Results, Orthodox and unorthodox attitudes to medicines can be measured quantitatively, and ethnicity was the only demographic variable associated with both. Ideal and predicted expectations for prescriptions were closely related to each other but differed in their antecedents. Both types of expectations were associated with attitudinal, demographic, organizational and illness variables. Ideal expectations were influenced by orthodox and unorthodox attitudes to medicines, while predicted expectations were only influenced by orthodox attitudes. Conclusions, Future studies of patients' expectations for health services should distinguish between ideal and predicted expectations, and should consider the range of possible influences on these expectations. In particular, the effect of the organization and context of health services should be investigated. [source]

Impact of axis II comorbidity on the course of bipolar illness in men: a retrospective chart review

BIPOLAR DISORDERS, Issue 4 2002
Joanne H Kay
Objectives: ,The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the presence of comorbid personality disorder influences the course of bipolar illness. Methods: ,Fifty-two euthymic male bipolar I out-patients were assessed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-III-R Personality Disorders (SCID II). Bipolar patients with an axis II diagnosis were compared with those without an axis II diagnosis on retrospectively obtained demographic, clinical and course of illness variables. Results: ,Thirty-eight percent of the bipolar patients met criteria for an axis II diagnosis. Two (4%) met criteria for (only) a Cluster A disorder, four (8%) for (only) a Cluster B, and six (12%) for (only) a Cluster C disorder. One (2%) bipolar patient met criteria a disorder in both Clusters A and B, and one (2%) for a disorder in Clusters B and C. Five (10%) met criteria for at least one disorder in Clusters A and C, and one met criteria for disorders in Clusters A, B, and C. The presence of a personality disorder was significantly associated with a lower rate of current employment, a higher number of currently prescribed psychiatric medications, and a higher incidence of a history of both alcohol and substance use disorders compared with the bipolar patients without axis II pathology. Conclusions: ,Our results extend previous findings of an association between comorbid personality disorder in bipolar I patients and factors that suggest a more difficult course of bipolar illness. [source]

The influence of socio-demographic and illness variables on quality of life in acute psychiatric inpatients

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 4 2007
Z. G. Hodgson
The mental-health literature highlights the importance of improved quality of life as an explicit goal of the mental-health service. Recent work indicates that assessment of subjective quality of life can be feasible and meaningful in individuals with psychiatric disorders. Although a number of studies have examined the influence of demographic variables on subjective quality of life in individuals with psychiatric disorders, there remains a paucity of studies that have made comparisons between diagnoses in inpatient populations. We used the WHOQOL-BREF to examine the influence of different psychiatric diagnoses on quality of life and investigated whether the relationship between demographic variables and quality of life was the same across diagnoses. We found that the relationship between demographic and illness variables was complex, with inconsistent effects across WHOQOL-BREF domains. Certain domains of the WHOQOL-BREF were more sensitive to the influence of psychiatric diagnosis than others.,Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]