This meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the available evidence regarding the effects of non-invasive neurostimulation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), on craving in substance ...dependence and craving for high palatable food. Non-invasive neurostimulation techniques were restricted to repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS). A total of 17 eligible studies were identified. Random effects analysis revealed a pooled standardized effect size (Hedge's g) of 0.476 (CI: 0.316-0.636), indicating a medium effect size favouring active non-invasive neurostimulation over sham stimulation in the reduction of craving (z=5.832, p<0.001). No significant differences were found between rTMS and tDCS, between the various substances of abuse and between substances of abuse and food, or between left and right DLPFC stimulation. In conclusion, this meta-analysis provides the first clear evidence that non-invasive neurostimulation of the DLPFC decreases craving levels in substance dependence.
Objective
To perform a meta‐analysis on studies reporting prevalence of Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) infection in any psychiatric disorder compared with healthy controls. Our secondary objective was ...to analyze factors possibly moderating heterogeneity.
Method
A systematic search was performed to identify studies into T. gondii infection for all major psychiatric disorders versus healthy controls. Methodological quality, publication bias, and possible moderators were assessed.
Results
A total of 2866 citations were retrieved and 50 studies finally included. Significant odds ratios (ORs) with IgG antibodies were found in schizophrenia (OR 1.81, P < 0.00001), bipolar disorder (OR 1.52, P = 0.02), obsessive–compulsive disorder (OR 3.4, P < 0.001), and addiction (OR 1.91, P < 0.00001), but not for major depression (OR 1.21, P = 0.28). Exploration of the association between T. gondii and schizophrenia yielded a significant effect of seropositivity before onset and serointensity, but not IgM antibodies or gender. The amplitude of the OR was influenced by region and general seroprevalence. Moderators together accounted for 56% of the observed variance in study effects. After controlling for publication bias, the adjusted OR (1.43) in schizophrenia remained significant.
Conclusion
These findings suggest that T. gondii infection is associated with several psychiatric disorders and that in schizophrenia reactivation of latent T. gondii infection may occur.
Objective: Problematic alcohol use is the third leading contributor to the global burden of disease, partly because the majority of problem drinkers are not receiving treatment. Internet-based ...alcohol interventions attract an otherwise untreated population, but their effectiveness has not yet been established. The current study examined the effectiveness of Internet-based therapy (therapy alcohol online; TAO) and Internet-based self-help (self-help alcohol online; SAO) for problematic alcohol users. Method: Adult problem drinkers (n = 205; 51% female; mean age = 42 years; mean Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test score = 20) were randomly assigned to TAO, SAO, or an untreated waiting-list control group (WL). Participants in the TAO arm received 7 individual text-based chat-therapy sessions. The TAO and SAO interventions were based on cognitive-behavioral therapy and motivational interviewing techniques. Assessments were given at baseline and 3 and 6 months after randomization. Primary outcome measures were alcohol consumption and treatment response. Secondary outcome measures included measures of quality-of-life. Results: Using generalized estimating equation regression models, intention-to-treat analyses demonstrated significant effects for TAO versus WL (p = .002) and for SAO versus WL (p = .03) on alcohol consumption at 3 months postrandomization. Differences between TAO and SAO were not significant at 3 months postrandomization (p = .11) but were significant at 6 months postrandomization (p = .03), with larger effects obtained for TAO. There was a similar pattern of results for treatment response and quality-of-life outcome measures. Conclusions: Results support the effectiveness of cognitive-behavioral therapy/motivational interviewing Internet-based therapy and Internet-based self-help for problematic alcohol users. At 6 months postrandomization, Internet-based therapy led to better results than Internet-based self-help.
Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) supplementation has been proposed as (adjuvant) treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD). In the present meta-analysis, we pooled randomized ...placebo-controlled trials assessing the effects of omega-3 PUFA supplementation on depressive symptoms in MDD. Moreover, we performed meta-regression to test whether supplementation effects depended on eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) or docosahexaenoic acid dose, their ratio, study duration, participants' age, percentage antidepressant users, baseline MDD symptom severity, publication year and study quality. To limit heterogeneity, we only included studies in adult patients with MDD assessed using standardized clinical interviews, and excluded studies that specifically studied perinatal/perimenopausal or comorbid MDD. Our PubMED/EMBASE search resulted in 1955 articles, from which we included 13 studies providing 1233 participants. After taking potential publication bias into account, meta-analysis showed an overall beneficial effect of omega-3 PUFAs on depressive symptoms in MDD (standardized mean difference=0.398 (0.114-0.682), P=0.006, random-effects model). As an explanation for significant heterogeneity (I(2)=73.36, P<0.001), meta-regression showed that higher EPA dose (β=0.00037 (0.00009-0.00065), P=0.009), higher percentage antidepressant users (β=0.0058 (0.00017-0.01144), P=0.044) and earlier publication year (β=-0.0735 (-0.143 to 0.004), P=0.04) were significantly associated with better outcome for PUFA supplementation. Additional sensitivity analyses were performed. In conclusion, present meta-analysis suggested a beneficial overall effect of omega-3 PUFA supplementation in MDD patients, especially for higher doses of EPA and in participants taking antidepressants. Future precision medicine trials should establish whether possible interactions between EPA and antidepressants could provide targets to improve antidepressant response and its prediction. Furthermore, potential long-term biochemical side effects of high-dosed add-on EPA supplementation should be carefully monitored.
ABSTRACT
Aims To present and evaluate a measurement tool for assessing characteristics of people with drug and/or alcohol problems for triage and evaluation in treatment. Measurements in the ...Addictions for Triage and Evaluation (MATE) is composed of 10 modules, selected on the basis of a detailed set of specifications. Conceptually, the MATE was constructed according to the ICD and International Classification of Functioning (ICF) in the World Health Organization (WHO) classification system. Two of the ICF‐related modules were newly designed.
Design Monitoring feasibility and field‐testing in a treatment‐seeking population with researcher and clinician‐administered test–retest interviews, construct validation with related instruments and evaluation of the dimensional structure of the ICF‐related modules.
Setting The research was conducted in a large, regional substance abuse treatment centre in the Netherlands and at the Municipal Health Service of Amsterdam.
Participants A total of 945 treatment‐seeking patients were recruited during routine intakes, 159 of whom were interviewed twice; 32 problem drug users were also recruited from the Amsterdam cohort studies among problem drug users.
Findings Completion time was reasonably short, and there were relatively few missing data. The factor structure of the ICF‐related modules revealed a three‐factor model with an acceptable fit. Inter‐rater reliability ranged between 0.75 and 0.92 and was satisfactory, but interviewer reliability ranged between 0.34 and 0.73, indicating that some of subscales need to be improved. Concurrent validity was indicated by significant correlations (>0.50) between the ICF‐related modules and the WHO Disability Assessment Schedule II (WHODAS II) and WHO Quality of Life brief version (WHOQOL‐BREF).
Conclusions The MATE can be used to allocate patients to substance abuse treatment. Because it is a comprehensive but flexible measurement tool that is also practical to use, the MATE is well suited for use in a heterogeneous population.
Missing data is a common nuisance in eHealth research: it is hard to prevent and may invalidate research findings.
In this paper several statistical approaches to data "missingness" are discussed and ...tested in a simulation study. Basic approaches (complete case analysis, mean imputation, and last observation carried forward) and advanced methods (expectation maximization, regression imputation, and multiple imputation) are included in this analysis, and strengths and weaknesses are discussed.
The dataset used for the simulation was obtained from a prospective cohort study following participants in an online self-help program for problem drinkers. It contained 124 nonnormally distributed endpoints, that is, daily alcohol consumption counts of the study respondents. Missingness at random (MAR) was induced in a selected variable for 50% of the cases. Validity, reliability, and coverage of the estimates obtained using the different imputation methods were calculated by performing a bootstrapping simulation study.
In the performed simulation study, the use of multiple imputation techniques led to accurate results. Differences were found between the 4 tested multiple imputation programs: NORM, MICE, Amelia II, and SPSS MI. Among the tested approaches, Amelia II outperformed the others, led to the smallest deviation from the reference value (Cohen's d = 0.06), and had the largest coverage percentage of the reference confidence interval (96%).
The use of multiple imputation improves the validity of the results when analyzing datasets with missing observations. Some of the often-used approaches (LOCF, complete cases analysis) did not perform well, and, hence, we recommend not using these. Accumulating support for the analysis of multiple imputed datasets is seen in more recent versions of some of the widely used statistical software programs making the use of multiple imputation more readily available to less mathematically inclined researchers.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Dialectical behaviour therapy (DBT) is widely considered to be a promising treatment for borderline personality disorder (BPD). However, the evidence for its efficacy published thus far should be ...regarded as preliminary.
To compare the effectiveness of DBT with treatment as usual for patients with BPD and to examine the impact of baseline severity on effectiveness.
Fifty-eight women with BPD were randomly assigned to either 12 months of DBT or usual treatment in a randomised controlled study. Participants were recruited through clinical referrals from both addiction treatment and psychiatric services. Outcome measures included treatment retention and the course of suicidal, self-mutilating and self-damaging impulsive behaviours.
Dialectical behaviour therapy resulted in better retention rates and greater reductions of self-mutilating and self-damaging impulsive behaviours compared with usual treatment, especially among those with a history of frequent self-mutilation.
Dialectical behaviour therapy is superior to usual treatment in reducing high-risk behaviours in patients with BPD.
IMPORTANCE: Major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) are difficult to distinguish clinically during the depressed or remitted states. Both mood disorders are characterized by emotion ...regulation disturbances; however, little is known about emotion regulation differences between MDD and BD. Better insight into these differences would be helpful for differentiation based on disorder-specific underlying pathophysiological mechanisms. Previous studies comparing these disorders often allowed medication use, limiting generalizability and validity. Moreover, patients with MDD and BD were mostly compared during the depressed, but not the remitted, state, while state might potentially modulate differences between MDD and BD. OBJECTIVE: To investigate positive and negative emotion regulation in medication-free patients with MDD and BD in 2 mood states: depressed or remitted. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A cross-sectional study conducted from May 2009 to August 2013 comparing behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging emotion regulation data of 42 patients with MDD, 35 with BD, and 36 healthy control (HC) participants free of psychotropic medication recruited from several psychiatric institutions across the Netherlands. INTERVENTION: A voluntary emotion regulation functional magnetic resonance imaging task using positive and negative pictures. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Behavioral and functional magnetic resonance imaging blood oxygen level–dependent responses during emotion regulation. RESULTS: In the remitted state, only patients with BD showed impaired emotion regulation (t = 3.39; P < .001; Cohen d = 0.70), irrespective of emotion type and associated with increased dorsolateral prefrontal cortex activity compared with those with MDD and healthy control participants (P = .008). In the depressed state, patients with MDD and BD differed with regard to happy vs sad emotion regulation (t = 4.19; P < .001; Cohen d = 1.66) associated with differences in rostral anterior cingulate activity (P < .001). Patients with MDD regulated sad and happy emotions poorly compared with those with BD and healthy control participants, while they demonstrated no rostral anterior cingulate difference between happy and sad emotion regulation. In contrast, patients with BD performed worse than those with MDD on sad emotion regulation but normal on happy emotion regulation, and they demonstrated significantly less rostral anterior cingulate activity while regulating happy compared with sad emotions. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Medication-free patients with MDD vs BD appear to differ in brain activations during emotion regulation, both while depressed and in remission. These different neuropathophysiological mechanisms between MDD and BD may be useful for further development of additional diagnostic tools.
Aims
To determine comorbidity patterns in treatment‐seeking substance use disorder (SUD) patients with and without adult attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), with an emphasis on subgroups ...defined by ADHD subtype, taking into account differences related to gender and primary substance of abuse.
Design
Data were obtained from the cross‐sectional International ADHD in Substance use disorder Prevalence (IASP) study.
Setting
Forty‐seven centres of SUD treatment in 10 countries.
Participants
A total of 1205 treatment‐seeking SUD patients.
Measurements
Structured diagnostic assessments were used for all disorders: presence of ADHD was assessed with the Conners' Adult ADHD Diagnostic Interview for DSM‐IV (CAADID), the presence of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), major depression (MD) and (hypo)manic episode (HME) was assessed with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview‐Plus (MINI Plus), and the presence of borderline personality disorder (BPD) was assessed with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM‐IV Axis II (SCID II).
Findings
The prevalence of DSM‐IV adult ADHD in this SUD sample was 13.9%. ASPD odds ratio (OR) = 2.8, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.8–4.2, BPD (OR = 7.0, 95% CI = 3.1–15.6 for alcohol; OR = 3.4, 95% CI = 1.8–6.4 for drugs), MD in patients with alcohol as primary substance of abuse (OR = 4.1, 95% CI = 2.1–7.8) and HME (OR = 4.3, 95% CI = 2.1–8.7) were all more prevalent in ADHD+ compared with ADHD− patients (P < 0.001). These results also indicate increased levels of BPD and MD for alcohol compared with drugs as primary substance of abuse. Comorbidity patterns differed between ADHD subtypes with increased MD in the inattentive and combined subtype (P < 0.01), increased HME and ASPD in the hyperactive/impulsive (P < 0.01) and combined subtypes (P < 0.001) and increased BPD in all subtypes (P < 0.001) compared with SUD patients without ADHD. Seventy‐five per cent of ADHD patients had at least one additional comorbid disorder compared with 37% of SUD patients without ADHD.
Conclusions
Treatment‐seeking substance use disorder patients with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are at a very high risk for additional externalizing disorders.
Abstract Objectives This study aims to investigate the most important factors facilitating a return to work after sick leave due to depression from the perspectives of patients, supervisors and ...occupational physicians. Methods Concept mapping was used to develop a conceptual framework. Using purposive sampling, 32 participants representing Employees, supervisors and occupational physicians, were asked to formulate statements on what enables patients with sick leave due to depression to return to work. A total of 41 participants rated and grouped the statements. Data were analyzed using the statistical program Ariadne. Results The concept mapping yielded 60 statements that consisted of promoting factors for return to work. Based on these statements, three meta-clusters and eight clusters were identified. The three meta-clusters consisted of work-related, person-related and healthcare- related clusters. The work-related meta-cluster comprised of “Adaptation of work”, “Understanding and support in the workplace” and “Positive work experiences”. The person- related meta-cluster encompassed “Positive and valid self-perception”, “Competence in self management”, “Positive level of energy”, and “Balanced home/work environment”. The healthcare-related meta-cluster was composed of “Supportive healthcare”. Stakeholder groups differ in opinion, in what they see as most important for return to work. Limitations The low number of participants and the high educational level of participants are a limitation for generalization of the findings. Conclusions The study generated different statements that stakeholders consider important for return to work after sick leave due to depression. These findings can be used as a checklist for coordination of the return to work process. Differences in opinion regarding what stakeholders see as most important for return to work should receive special consideration during the re-integration process.
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