Search results for "causality"
showing 10 items of 258 documents
Physical Activity, Sleep, and Symptoms of Depression in Adults - Testing for Mediation
2019
Abstract Purpose: Physical activity, sleep problems, and symptoms of depression contribute to overall well-being. The factors are reciprocally associated, but the nature of these associations remains unclear. The present study examined whether sleep problems mediated the association between physical activity and depressive symptoms. Methods: The eligible population (n = 3596) consisted of adults from the ongoing, population-based Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study started in 1980. Participants’ leisure-time physical activity was assessed with physical activity index (2007) and sleep problems with Jenkins’ Sleep Questionnaire in 2007 and 2011. Depressive symptoms were measured using mo…
Requestioning depression in patients with cancer: Contribution of somatic and affective symptoms to Beck's Depression Inventory
2007
Background: Depressive symptoms are a major complaint reported by cancer patients. Somatic and affective symptoms can contribute to depression. Patients and methods: We investigated the prevalence of somatic and affective depressive symptoms with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in 213 hospitalized cancer patients prior to the start of chemotherapy. Results: Seventeen of 213 patients (8%) were screened positive for major depression; 40 (19%) had mild to moderate depressive symptoms. The corresponding figures for somatic and affective symptoms were 33.3% and 2.8% in the patients with major depression and 23.0% and 8.0% in those with mild to moderate depressive symptoms. Female patients, p…
Cardiac disease in patients with mucopolysaccharidosis: presentation, diagnosis and management
2011
The mucopolysaccharidoses (MPSs) are inherited lysosomal storage disorders caused by the absence of functional enzymes that contribute to the degradation of glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). The progressive systemic deposition of GAGs results in multi-organ system dysfunction that varies with the particular GAG deposited and the specific enzyme mutation(s) present. Cardiac involvement has been reported in all MPS syndromes and is a common and early feature, particularly for those with MPS I, II, and VI. Cardiac valve thickening, dysfunction (more severe for left-sided than for right-sided valves), and hypertrophy are commonly present; conduction abnormalities, coronary artery and other vascular in…
Right bundle branch block and SIQIII-type patterns for risk stratification in acute pulmonary embolism.
2016
Abstract Introduction Risk stratification in acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is crucial for identification of patients with poor prognosis. We aimed to investigate the ECG alterations of right bundle branch block (RBBB) and S I Q III -type patterns for risk stratification in acute PE. Materials and methods Retrospective analysis of PE patients, treated in the Internal Medicine Department, was performed. Patients with RBBB and/or S I Q III -type were compared with those without both patterns. Logistic regression models for association between these ECG alterations and respectively right ventricular dysfunction (RVD), high-risk PE status and myocardial injury were computed. Results 175 patients…
Causal symptom attributions in somatoform disorder and chronic pain.
2009
Abstract Objective Somatoform disorders (SFD) are defined by symptoms that lack medical explanation. This study examined the type and pattern of patients' causal attributions using a new semistructured interview technique Methods The Causal Attributions Interview allows to assess and weigh 15 common explanations of physical symptoms. Attributions given by 79 patients with SFD were compared with those obtained from 187 chronic pain patients. Results The test–retest reliabilities of the interview-elicited attributions were satisfactory to good. SFD patients attributed most of their symptoms to mental/emotional problems (46.9%) and somatic disease (41.1%), while the pain sample preferred physi…
Birth weight and adult income : An examination of mediation through adult height and body mass
2021
This paper examines the causal links between early human endowments and socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood. We use a genotyped longitudinal survey (Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study) that is linked to the administrative registers of Statistics Finland. We focus on the effect of birth weight on income via two anthropometric mediators: body mass index (BMI) and height in adulthood. We find that (i) the genetic instruments for birth weight, adult height, and adult BMI are statistically powerful; (ii) there is a robust total effect of birth weight on income for men but not for women; (iii) the total effect of birth weight on income for men is partly mediated via height but not via BMI; …
Mixed predictability and cross-validation to assess non-linear Granger causality in short cardiovascular variability series
2006
A method to evaluate the direction and strength of causal interactions in bivariate cardiovascular and cardiorespiratory series is presented. The method is based on quantifying self and mixed predictability of the two series using nearest-neighbour local linear approximation. It returns two causal coupling indexes measuring the relative improvement in predictability along direct and reverse directions, and a directionality index indicating the preferential direction of interaction. The method was implemented through a cross-validation approach that allowed quantification of directionality without constraining the embedding of the series, and fully exploited the available data to maximise th…
Direct and Indirect Effects of Function in Associated Variables Such as Depression and Severity on Pain Intensity in Women with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
2015
Objective To determine the direct and indirect effects of function on clinical variables such as age, pain intensity, years of the disease, severity of symptoms, and depression in women with electrodiagnostic and clinical diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS). Design A cross-sectional study. Setting Patients from an urban hospital referred to a university clinic. Methods Two hundred and forty-four (n = 224) women with CTS were included. Demographic and clinical data, duration of symptoms, function, symptom's severity of the symptoms, pain intensity, and depression were self-reported collected. Correlation and path analysis with maximum likelihood estimation were conducted to assess the …
Oocyte donation outcome after oncological treatment in cancer survivors.
2012
Objective To study reproductive outcome in patients cured of cancer who required oocyte donation (OD) owing to iatrogenic ovarian dysfunction. Design Multicenter, unmatched, retrospective cohorts study. Setting Private, university-affiliated group of clinics. Patient(s) Women treated and cured of cancer (n = 142) who underwent 333 cycles of OD (exposed group) and women without a previous cancer diagnosis (n = 17,844) who underwent 29,778 cycles of OD (unexposed cohort) between January 2000 and January 2012. Intervention(s) Retrospective chart review. Main Outcome Measure(s) Pregnancy, implantation, miscarriage, and ongoing pregnancy rates. Result(s) There were no differences in terms of pre…
Assessing Causality in normal and impaired short-term cardiovascular regulation via nonlinear prediction methods
2009
We investigated the ability of mutual nonlinear prediction methods to assess causal interactions in short-term cardiovascular variability during normal and impaired conditions. Directional interactions between heart period (RR interval of the ECG) and systolic arterial pressure (SAP) short-term variability series were quantified as the cross-predictability (CP) of one series given the other, and as the predictability improvement (PI) yielded by the inclusion of samples of one series into the prediction of the other series. Nonlinear prediction was performed through global approximation (GA), approximation with locally constant models (LA0) and approximation with locally linear models (LA1) …