• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.5 no.2
• /
• pp.253-262
• /
• 1998

Objectives : Risperidone, an atypical antipsychitics which blocks both dopaminergic and serotonergic receptors, have a good response to the negative symptoms as well as positive symptoms, and improve cognitive dysfunction of schizophrenic patients. Furthermore, it has few extrapyramidal side effects and tardive dyskinesia. Although it had been reported that the atypical antipsychotics have less effect on prolactin(PRL) than the classical antipsychotics, we could experience PRL-associated symptoms such as amenorrhea, galactorrhea and hyperprolactinemia in practice. Therefore, we tried to identify the sex differences of risperidone-induced hyperprolactinemia, to evaluate factors affecting PRL levels, and to know the association between cognitive disorders and PRL. Methods : The baseline levels of PRL and TSH prior to risperidone administration were measured by enzyme immunoassay method for 50 patients(25 ma-les and 25 females) admitted with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder or schizophreniform disorder according to the DSM-IV classification, and the measurements of PRL were repeated on the 2nd and the 4th wks of risperidone administration. Concomitantly, the severity of psychotic symptoms using CGI, BPRS and PANSS, and the cognitive dysfunction using PANSS-CF were assessed prior to, on the 2nd and the 4th wks of risperidone administration. The PRL and TSH levels of 54 healthy controls(29 males and 25 females) who had no medical, neurological and psychiatric illnesses were also evaluated. Furthermore, the correlation with the psychiatric diagnosis, education, age, sex, duration of illnesses, risperidone dosage, duration of risperdone administration, TSH concentration, cognitive function, severity of psychotic symptoms were also identified. Results : 1) The baseline PRL levels of female schizophrenics($74.3{\pm}49.6ng/ml$) were significantly(p<0.005) higher than those of males($36.3{\pm}24.6ng/ml$), which were significantly(p<0.0001 respectively) higher than those of controls(females $16.9{\pm}6.1ng/ml$, males $13.3{\pm}4.9ng/ml$). The PRL levels measured on the 2nd wks(females $133.7{\pm}47.8ng/ml$, males $56.9{\pm}23.6ng/ml$) and on the 4th wks(females $146.1{\pm}45.9ng/ml$, males $70.0{\pm}31.5ng/ml$) after risperidone administration were significantly(p<0.0001 respectively) higher in females. The mean dosages of risperidone on the 2nd wks were $3.8{\pm}1.7mg$(2-6mg) for the females and $4.0{\pm}1.6mg$(2-6mg) for the males, and on the 4th wks were $4.5{\pm}2.1mg$(2-8mg) for the females and $5.4{\pm}2.2mg$(2-8mg) for the males. 2) The rise of PRL levels were positively correlated with increased risperidone dosage in males(${\gamma}$=0.307 on the 2nd wks and ${\gamma}$=0.280 on the 4th wks), while they were not correlated with dosages in females. For the females, the PRL levels were negatively correlated(${\gamma}$=-0.320) with decrease of TSH concentration. The baseline PRL levels were not correlated with age, education, duration of illnesses, psychopathology, cognitive disorders in both males and females, while it was negatively correlated with TSH levels only in females(${\gamma}$=-0.320). 3) The cognitive dysfunction was not correlated with PRL levels in males, while PANSS-CF scores were negatively correlated with PRL levels(${\gamma}$=-0.220 on the 2nd wks and ${\gamma}$=-0.366 on the 4th wks) in females. The psychopathology was positively correlated with cognitive dysfunction in both males and females. Therefore, the risperidone-induced cognitive improvement seemed to be correlated with improvement of psychopathology in both males and females, and with increase in PRL levels only in females. Conclusions : The fact that the serum PRL levels of schizophrenics were higher than those of controls, especially in females suggested that it could be related with risperidone dosage in males and with primary pathological process in females. The risperidone-associated cognitive improvement seemed to be related with general improvement of psychopathology as well as the rise of PRL levels especially in females. The facts that the effect of risperidoneinduced hyperprolactinemia and the cognitive function were more in females suggested that somewhat different mechanisms could be exerted on them.

• Journal of Hospice and Palliative Care
• /
• v.17 no.3
• /
• pp.170-178
• /
• 2014

Purpose: Delirium is a common and serious neuropsychiatric complication among terminally ill cancer patients. We investigated risk factors related to the development of delirium among hospice care patients. Methods: Between May 2011 and September 2012, we included patients who were mentally alert and had no psychiatric disease or drug addiction at the hospice ward of two local hospitals. Among them, participants who had been diagnosed with delirium by two doctors according to the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-4th edition) criteria were grouped as Delirium Group. We analyzed results of psychometric and other laboratory tests performed at the time of patient's admission - psychometric tests included cognitive function (mini-mental status examination, MMSE), depression (Beck Depression Inventory, BDI), anxiety, and insomnia (Insomnia Severity Index, ISI). Logistic regression analysis was used to compare delirium and the related factors. Cox's proportional hazard model was performed using significant factors of logistic regression analysis. Results: Of the 96 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 41 (42.7%) developed delirium. According to the logistic regression analysis, primary cancer site, cognitive impairment (MMSE < 24), depression ($BDI{\geq}16$), and insomnia ($ISI{\geq}15$) were significant factors related to delirium. Among the four factors, depression (OR 5.130; 95% CI, 2.009~13.097) and cognitive impairment (OR 5.130; 95% CI, 2.009~13.097) were found significant using Cox's proportional hazard model. Conclusion: The development of delirium was significantly related to depression and cognitive impairment among patients receiving hospice care. It is necessary to carefully monitor depression and cognitive function in hospice care.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.130-137
• /
• 2019

Objectives : When a patient who attempts suicide visits the emergency room, it is important that the departments of emergency medicine, internal medicine, and psychiatry communicate with each other and prioritize treatment. This study was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the multidisciplinary emergency consultation system (ECS) for drug intoxicated patients. Methods : We retrospectively analyzed the data from medical records prior to the ECS, from July 2017 to May 2018, and after the ECS, from July 2018 to May 2019, to verify the effectiveness of the system. Results : After the ECS, admission to open wards was significantly higher than to the intensive care units (χ²=8.567, p=0.014). In addition, the proportion of consultations to the department of psychiatry among patients admitted to other departments tended to increase (χ²=4.202, p=0.053), and the time required for consultation response decreased (Z=-2.031, p=0.042). As a result of the consultation, the proportion of the patients who had been transferred to the department of psychiatry was increased (χ²=4.692, p=0.043), and the time spent to transfer tended to decrease (Z=-1.941, p=0.052). Conclusions : After implementing the ECS for drug intoxicated patients, unnecessary intensive care unit admissions, consultation response time, and the time spent to transfer were reduced, and the rate of consultation referrals and transfer rates increased. This means that the multidisciplinary consultation system rapidly provided essential medical services to patients at lower medical costs.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Landscape Architecture
• /
• v.42 no.6
• /
• pp.72-88
• /
• 2014

This study was conducted in order to analyze user behavior and preference factors in the outdoor spaces of mental hospitals. Among hospitals with 250 or more beds, 5 hospitals were selected in consideration of size of garden and diversity of garden elements. The subject of the study was restricted to mild cases of schizophrenia while 30~50 patients were selected on the recommendation of their doctor from 5 hospitals, respectively. The physical environment was analyzed, focusing on space components, after visiting the sites of study. A face to face interview method was selected in consideration of patients' cognitive abilities, a total of 230 questionnaires were used for the analysis. The results of the study can be summarized as follows. Rest facilities occupy the largest numbers in the components of garden, and those are followed by landscape facilities, walking/exercise facilities, and experience facilities. Outdoor walking/exercise programs are classified into group walks and free walks with most patients taking group walks. Most of the patients visit these outdoor spaces every day but some of them rarely use the outdoor areas. In order to increase the efficiency of using these outdoor spaces, the percentage of space for ensuring a sense of control should properly harmonize with the percentage of space to facilitate patients in having social contact. With regard to the reasons for preferring the most widely-used outdoor spaces, landscape/environment property was the most important, followed by functionality and then accessibility. Major activities in the preferred space are mainly composed of walking/exercise and rest. The preferred facilities are waterscape facilities such as ponds, waterfalls and fountains, rest facilities such as pergolas and shade trees, and lawn. It was understood that naturalness should be considered to be the most important factor in constructing a new healing garden, followed by aesthetics and amenities. Single facilities rated by preference for introduction were flower beds, trails, and lawn. According to type, waterscape facilities such as fountains, ponds, waterfalls and waterwheels were most preferred. Space for natural distraction and programs for the cultivation of flower beds were also preferred. The ideal image of a healing garden should be bright, familiar, and orderly as a whole, having plenty of introduced facilities. Open spaces were preferred to enclosed spaces. Finally, the image of a garden that helps patients feel calm was thought to be that of the most ideal garden.

• Journal of Yeungnam Medical Science
• /
• v.22 no.2
• /
• pp.150-165
• /
• 2005

Purpose: This study was conducted to investigate the prognostic factors of postpsychotic depressive symptoms in patients with schizophrenia. Materials and Methods: Eighty patients were selected based on the diagnostic criteria from the DSM-IV, PANSS and ESRS. For all patients information was collected on demographic and clinical characteristics. The subjective depressive symptoms and the objective depressive symptoms, as well as patients insight regarding psychosis were evaluated. The subjective depressive symptoms were evaluated by BDI and ZDS; the objective depressive symptoms were evaluated by HDRS and CDSS, and patient insight into the psychosis was evaluated by KISP. Results: The comparisons using demographic and clinical characteristics showed that HDRS and CDSS had significant difference with regard to gender and suicide attempts; the BDI was associated with difference in education level and age of onset. The patients with scores above cuff-off score for each scale were 20(25.0%) for the BDI, 16(20.0%) for the ZDS, 18(22.5%) for the CDSS and 6(7.5%) for the HDRS. The results of the stepwise multiple regression analysis showed that the scores for the KISP, education levels, gender and suicide attempts were the main prognostic factors in patients with the psychotic depressive disorder of schizophrenia. Conclusion: The main prognostic factors in psychotic depressive disorder of schizophrenia included: insight into psychosis, suicidal attempts. Insight into the psychosis was the most reliable prognostic factor but this characteristic had a negative relationship to the with depressive symptoms.

• Journal of Korean Academy of Nursing
• /
• v.15 no.1
• /
• pp.17-29
• /
• 1985

This study was to explore on the rank of stressful events related to the experience of hospitalization. 180 hospitalized patients on surgical and medical wards were asked to rate 49 stress-producing events associated with the experience of hospitalization. Two university hospitals was used as the setting for this study. Because the nature of the events in the stress scale pertain mainly to general short term hospitalizations, patients in the rehabilitation and psychiatric units of the hospital were not included. Prior to the beginning of the study, three times meeting were held with 12 head nurses and 3 investigators for discussing with the ethics subject related to the study. The pretest was done to determine whether items to use were pertinent or not. According to the result of the pretest, Volicer's Hospital Stress Rating Scale was selected as a study tool for this study. Data collection was used an interview and a card-sorting method. The interviewing was done by two authors and three graduate nursing students. A total 125 completed the card-sorting procedure. The stressful items were ordered from most to least stressful within the categories. Additional information such as: age, sex, marital status, and diagnosis was obtained from the kardex file. The ordered list of items, with mean values, as scored by the total of 125 respondents was significantly accepted at 1% level by Friedman test. (X²=1448.339) The event,“knowing you have a serious illness.”was rated highest stressful and (M=41.54) “Being awakened in the night by the nurse”least stressful. (M=14.73) Highly rated items were orderly “Thinking you might have cancer”“Thinking you might lose a kidney or some other organ”“Not being told what your diagnosis is. “Not knowing for sure what illness you have,”five lowerly rated items were orderly “Having to eat at different times than you usually do”“net being able to call family or friends on the phone”“Not having friends visit you,”“Having strangers sleep in the same room with you.”Futher analysis of the data was done to ascertain tao degree of similarity of judgment between different groups in the sample as to how events should be rated. The sample was divided into two groups according to the demographic characteristics and the degree of seriousness of illness. The rank order correlation was calculated for the two sets of ranks as a measure of consensus between the two groups. The correlations ranged from .85∼.99 all indicating a high degree of consensus.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.29-35
• /
• 2020

Objectives : Evidence regarding the association between untreated depression in adolescence and suicidal risk in male young adults is scarce. We aimed to assess the effect of untreated illness during adolescence on the suicidal risk and attempt after that first episode. Methods : As part of a cross-sectional study, between May 2017 and April 2018, a total of 260 patients with currently unipolar or bipolar depression were included in the final analysis. Multiple linear and logistic regression analysis were performed to evaluate the association between untreated mood disorder in adolescence and its effect on the suicidal risk and attempt. Results : In total 260 patients, 189 were classified as untreated group. The proportion of suicide attempts, total depression score, suicidal risk and number of suicide attempts were significantly higher in the untreated group. The most predictive factors of suicide attempts were history of untreated depression [Adjusted Odds Ratio (AOR)=4.19, 95% Confidence Interval (CI)=2.25-7.81, p<0.001] and diagnosis of bipolar depression (AOR=2.60, 95% CI=1.52-4.46, p<0.001). Conclusions : Although the untreated depression suggests higher rates of suicidality, a significant proportion (86.7%) of adolescent depression in this study did not receive psychiatric treatment. Future research should be needed to find better ways to decrease barriers in using mental health treatment and its contribution to reduction and prevention of adverse outcome.

• Korean Journal of Psychosomatic Medicine
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.53-62
• /
• 2020

Objectives : This study investigated lifetime experiences of trauma, treatment retention, and psychiatric symptoms among outpatients with panic disorder after initiation of pharmacotherapy. Our research hypothesis was that panic patients with childhood trauma would display more severe symptoms and less treatment retention compared to those without such history. Methods : A total of 135 first-visit outpatients with DSM-IV panic disorder were approached during the period from March 2012 to August 2016. Fifty-three patients (39%) either refused or returned incomplete questionnaires, leading to a final sample size of 82. Participants completed the Trauma History Screen, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Abbreviated PTSD checklist. Results : The number of lifetime trauma was significantly correlated with treatment retention (rho=-0.269, p=0.015). Among subtypes of trauma, only childhood physical abuse was significantly correlated with treatment retention (rho=-0.298, p=0.007). Conclusions : Our results indicated that psychological trauma, particularly of an interpersonal nature from childhood, can affect pharmacotherapy treatment retention in panic disorder. This may be mediated by poor patient-doctor relationships originating from trust issues among childhood trauma survivors or lack of perceived improvement due to the more severe symptoms and unfavorable course experienced by those with childhood trauma. Further studies are needed to explore the reasons for poor treatment adherence in this population.

• Journal of muscle and joint health
• /
• v.6 no.1
• /
• pp.22-36
• /
• 1999

The purpose of the study was to identify disease characteristics and behavior pattern of treatment for patients with Fibromyalgia. This study was carried out between May to Aug. in 1998 through direct interview in Rheumatism clinic at H. University Hospital and subject in this study were 125 outpatients diagnosed with Fibromyalgia. Collected data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and t-test, ANOVA using SPSS Window program. The results of this study are as follows. 1. General Characteristics : All of the persons with Fibromyalgia were female who were mostly in their forties(37.5%). A third of them(38.4%) were graduated from high school. The greatest part of them(54.4%) were christians but little part of them(16.8%) were employed 2. Disease Characteristics : They have struggled with Fibromyalgia for 10 years on an average. About half of them(56.9%) suffered from Fibromyalgia only but the others had another diseases which were in greatest part occupied by Osteoarthritis. The number of tender point which is a feature of Fibromyalgia differed according to measuring criteria. Yunus criteria. however, was proved to be the most proper measuring criteria than any other method as it showed high correlations between symptoms and physical activities. The most serious symptoms that complained the patients among subjective symptoms are pain, sleep disorder, and fatigue in sequence, and activities most hard to do among physical activities are washing by hand, scrubbing by hand, and shopping in sequence. 3. Behavior Pattern of Treatment : The largest part of them(42.4%) had received medical treatment after they were determined to have the disease and most of them were taking medicine as prescribed by physician(88.8%) or other medicines(16.8%), Of them, two thirds stated that the medicine they took were effective. Around a third of them took exercises mostly composed of swimming. The medical institution they visited in the past were orthopedic surgical department, Oriental hospital, physical therapy department in sequence and, in a slight percent(11.4%), psychiatric department. 4. Relations between Disease Characteristics and Behavior pattern of Treatment : It shows that number of tender point and level of symptom are significantly different according to duration of disease and medical intervention. As a results, it can be suggest that persons with Fibromyalgia need to take exercises and medicine continually regardless of medical treatment as it is a chronic disease whose symptoms are hardly mitigated.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
• /
• v.2 no.1
• /
• pp.77-90
• /
• 1995

The Purposes of this study were to examine plasma homovanillic acid(pHVA) levels and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid(pHIAA) levels in schizophrenics during haloperidol treatment, and to assess the association of pHVA and pHIM levels with their psychopathology and treatment responses. Fourteen patients entered the study and pHVA, pHIAA levels were measured at baseline, first week, second week and fourth week during treatment. Also, plasma haloperidol levels were measured at first week, second week and fourth week. Psychopathology was evaluated with Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale(BPRS) at baseline, 1st week, 2nd week and 4th week. 1) There were significant differences on the duration of illness and total BPRS scores at baseline between higher pHVA group(baseline pHVA level >7.72ng/mL) and lower pHVA group(baseline pHVA level <7.72ng/mL). 2) There was no significant difference on the duration of illness between higher pHIM group(baseline pHIAA level >3.18ng/mL). and lower pHIAA group(baseline pHIAA level <3.18ng/mL). 3) The Means of pHVA levels at 1 st week and 2nd week after treatment decreased significantly in the higher pHVA group and did not change in the lower pHVA group. 4) In the higher pHIAA group, the mean of pHIAA levels at 4th week after treatment decreased significantly, but did not change in the lower pHIAA group. 5) Between the higher pHIVA group and lower pHVA group, the response rates(percentile improvement) after treatment were not different from each other, but there was significant difference on the response rate between the lower pHIAA group and higher pHIM group at 2nd week. 6) There was significant correlation between total BPRS scores and pHVA levels in the higher pHVA group during treatment. The results suggest that repeated measurement of pHVA levels and pHIAA levels following antipsychotic treatment have prognostic significance for response. Also, shcizophrenics whose have relatively nigh levels of pHVA, or relatively low levels of pHIAA before treatment will show a favorable early responses to antipsychotics.