Search results for "comorbid"
showing 10 items of 827 documents
Carotid atherosclerosis and chronic hepatitis C: A prospective study of risk associations
2011
BACKGROUND AND AIMS: There are contrasting results in studies of cardiovascular risk in patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C (G1 CHC). We evaluated the prevalence of carotid atherosclerosis compared with a control population in order to assess the potential association between atherosclerosis, host and viral factors, and liver histological features. MATERIALS AND METHODS: One hundred seventy-four consecutive biopsy-proven G1 CHC patients were evaluated by anthropometric and metabolic measurements. One hundred seventy-four patients attending an outpatient cardiology unit were used as controls. Intima-media thickness (IMT) and carotid plaques, defined as focal thickening of > 1.3 mm a…
Relationship between carotid intima-media thickness and non valvular atrial fibrillation type.
2015
OBJECTIVE: Carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) is a surrogate marker of subclinical atherosclerosis and it is able to predict both coronary and cerebral vascular events. No data exist on the association between cIMT and non valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) type. We conduct this study with the aim to analyze the association between abnormal cIMT and NVAF type. METHODS: A cross-sectional study of the "Atrial fibrillation Registry for Ankle-brachial index Prevalence Assessment-Collaborative Italian Study (ARAPACIS)" has been performed. Among 2027 patients enrolled in the ARAPACIS, 673 patients, who underwent carotid ultrasound examination to assess cIMT, were included in the study. RESULT…
Impact of infectious burden on progression of carotid atherosclerosis.
2002
Background and Purpose— Recent findings suggest a causative role of infections in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. The extent of atherosclerosis and the prognosis of patients with atherosclerosis seem to be increased by the number of infections to which an individual has been exposed. In a prospective study, we evaluated the effect of 8 pathogens and the aggregate pathogen burden on the progression of carotid atherosclerosis. Methods— In 504 patients (74.9% men; age, 62.9±10 years), we measured intima-media thickness and prevalence of carotid artery stenosis. Follow-up measurements after a mean of 2.5 years were available in 427 patients (85%). Blood samples were taken, and IgG or IgA …
Molecular evidence for the inverse comorbidity between central nervous system disorders and cancers detected by transcriptomic meta-analyses.
2014
There is epidemiological evidence that patients with certain Central Nervous System (CNS) disorders have a lower than expected probability of developing some types of Cancer. We tested here the hypothesis that this inverse comorbidity is driven by molecular processes common to CNS disorders and Cancers, and that are deregulated in opposite directions. We conducted transcriptomic meta-analyses of three CNS disorders (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease and Schizophrenia) and three Cancer types (Lung, Prostate, Colorectal) previously described with inverse comorbidities. A significant overlap was observed between the genes upregulated in CNS disorders and downregulated in Cancers, as wel…
Elevated cerebrospinal fluid and plasma homocysteine levels in ALS
2009
BACKGROUND: High cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma levels of homocysteine (HC) have been reported in certain neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's diseases and, recently, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). OBJECTIVES: To assay the CSF and plasma levels of HC in ALS patients and controls, and to evaluate the relationship between HC levels and clinical variables of the disease. METHODS: Cerebrospinal fluid from sixty-nine (M/F 1.87) and plasma from sixty-five ALS patients (M/F 1.83) were taken and stored at -80 degrees C until use. Controls (CSF = 55; plasma = 67) were patients admitted to our hospital for neurological disorders with no known relationship to HC ch…
Intimate male partner violence impairs immune control over herpes simplex virus type 1 in physically and psychologically abused women.
2004
OBJECTIVE: Intimate partner violence (IPV) against women is a worldwide problem and a cause of significant distress and threat to health. Studies have focused mainly on mental health, and few have considered the effect on physiological systems. The aim of this research was to determine whether IPV also compromises the immune system, as evidenced by a decrease in immune regulation over herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1), the latent virus that causes cold sores. METHODS: Physically abused (N = 47) and psychologically abused women (N = 27) were compared with nonabused control women (N = 37). Information about sociodemographic characteristics, lifetime history of victimization, and mental heal…
Prevalence, correlates, and predictors of depersonalization experiences in the German general population.
2009
The survey aimed to investigate the prevalence of depersonalization (DP) experiences, its sociodemographic characteristics and its associations with medical conditions, illness behavior, and potential etiologic factors. A representative face-to-face household survey was conducted. The sample consists of n = 1,287 participants aged 14 to 90 years. Sociodemographic variables, medical conditions, current mental disorders, health care utilization, and childhood adversities were assessed. A total of 1.9% participants scored in the range of clinically significant DP (DP-C) and 9.7% reported at least some impairment through DP (DP-I). DP-C/DP-I were strongly associated with depression and anxiety.…
Minimization of childhood maltreatment is common and consequential: results from a large, multinational sample using the childhood trauma questionnai…
2016
Childhood maltreatment has diverse, lifelong impact on morbidity and mortality. The Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) is one of the most commonly used scales to assess and quantify these experiences and their impact. Curiously, despite very widespread use of the CTQ, scores on its Minimization-Denial (MD) subscale-originally designed to assess a positive response bias-are rarely reported. Hence, little is known about this measure. If response biases are either common or consequential, current practices of ignoring the MD scale deserve revision. Therewith, we designed a study to investigate 3 aspects of minimization, as defined by the CTQ's MD scale: 1) its prevalence; 2) its latent struc…
Do child abuse and maltreatment increase risk of schizophrenia?
2012
INTRODUCTION: IntroductionaaAlthough childhood abuse is a recognised risk factor for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance misuse, its role in the aetiology of psychotic disorder remained controversial. This is in part because the putative effect of childhood trauma on psychosis has been mostly evaluated by small, cross sectional, uncontrolled studies that raised methodological issues. METHODS: Papers concerning the association between childhood trauma and psychotic disorders (to November, 2011) were identified using a comprehensive search of PubMed, Psychinfo, and Scopus and analysing reference list of relevant papers. A narrative synthesis was used to summarise results…
Mechanisms of Shared Vulnerability to Post-traumatic Stress Disorder and Substance Use Disorders
2020
Psychoactive substance use is a nearly universal human behavior, but a significant minority of people who use addictive substances will go on to develop an addictive disorder. Similarly, though ~90% of people experience traumatic events in their lifetime, only ~10% ever develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Substance use disorders (SUD) and PTSD are highly comorbid, occurring in the same individual far more often than would be predicted by chance given the respective prevalence of each disorder. Some possible reasons that have been proposed for the relationship between PTSD and SUD are self-medication of anxiety with drugs or alcohol, increased exposure to traumatic events due to a…