Examination of the Construct Validity of the Swedish Version of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in Breast Cancer Patients.

Examination of the construct validity of the Swedish version of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale in breast cancer patients.

Qual Life Res. 2013 Apr 9;
Saboonchi F, Wennman-Larsen A, Alexanderson K, Petersson LM

PURPOSE: To examine the construct validity of the Swedish version of Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD) in women with breast cancer. METHOD: Acquired data on HAD from 727 women who recently had breast cancer surgery, were aged 20-63 years and worked before diagnosis, and had no previous breast cancer (n = 725) were subjected to confirmatory factor analysis examining the viability of three hypothesized measurement models. RESULTS: The analysis showed adequate fit to the data for both bi-dimensional and three-factorial models of HAD. The single-factorial model, however, was shown to have inferior fit to the data. Substantive correlations were found between anxiety and depression in the bi-dimensional model, and negative affectivity and anxiety in the three-factorial model of HAD. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the utility of scoring procedure based on the original bi-dimensional model, but add indication of co-occurrence of anxiety and depression in this patient population. The discriminant validity of a third factor of negative affectivity in a three-factorial model, however, remains unclear. HubMed – depression

Differential levels of brain amino acids in rat models presenting learned helplessness or non-learned helplessness.

Psychopharmacology (Berl). 2013 Apr 9;
Muneoka K, Shirayama Y, Horio M, Iyo M, Hashimoto K

RATIONALE: Glutamatergic and ?-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic abnormalities have recently been proposed to contribute to depression. The learned helplessness (LH) paradigm produces a reliable animal model of depression that expresses a deficit in escape behavior (LH model); an alternative phenotype that does not exhibit LH is a model of resilience to depression (non-LH model). OBJECTIVES: We measured the contents of amino acids in the brain to investigate the mechanisms involved in the pathology of depression. METHODS: LH and non-LH models were subjected to inescapable electric footshocks at random intervals following a conditioned avoidance test to determine acquirement of predicted escape deficits. Tissue amino acid contents in eight brain regions were measured via high-performance liquid chromatography. RESULTS: The non-LH model showed increased GABA levels in the dentate gyrus and nucleus accumbens and increased glutamine levels in the dentate gyrus and the orbitofrontal cortex. The LH model had reduced glutamine levels in the medial prefrontal cortex. Changes in the ratios of GABA, glutamine, and glutamate were detected in the non-LH model, but not in the LH model. Reductions in threonine levels occurred in the medial prefrontal cortex in both models, whereas elevated alanine levels were detected in the medial prefrontal cortex in non-LH animals. CONCLUSIONS: The present study demonstrates region-specific compensatory elevations in GABA levels in the dentate gyrus and nucleus accumbens of non-LH animals, supporting the implication of the GABAergic system in the recovery of depression. HubMed – depression

A 2-year follow-up of quality of life, pain, and psychosocial factors in patients with chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome and their spouses.

World J Urol. 2013 Apr 9;
Tripp DA, Nickel JC, Shoskes D, Koljuskov A

OBJECTIVES: There are two objectives: (1) Examine quality of life (QoL) and mood between chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) patients and spouses over a 2-year period; (2) Longitudinally assess CP/CPPS patient pain, disability, and pain catastrophizing over a 2-year period. METHODS: Forty-four CP/CPPS diagnosed men and their spouses participated. Patients completed demographics, QoL, depression, anxiety, pain, disability, and catastrophizing across the study. Spouses completed QoL, depression, and anxiety. Patients/spouses were not different in education, but patients were older (49 years; SD = 9.56). The average symptom duration was 8.68 (SD = 7.61). Couples were married or common law, and majority of patients were employed. Due to attrition, approximately 21 couples provided analyzable data. RESULTS: Patients and spouses physical QoL did not statistically differ over time from one another, and both increased over the study period. Mental QoL increased over time, but patients reported lower QoL. Patients reported more depression and anxiety, but both measures remained stable over time for spouses and patients. Finally, patient only analyses showed that disability did decrease over time from a high at 6 months, but pain and catastrophizing showed stability over the 2 years. CONCLUSIONS: Patients reported worse mental QoL, depression, and anxiety compared to spouses, and spouses reported significant stable levels of depression and anxiety similar to patients. Further, patient catastrophizing, pain, and disability did not reduce over the 2-year assessment period. These results provide further impetus for the development and implementation of mental health strategies alongside continued medical efforts in couples suffering from CP/CPPS. HubMed – depression