Measurement of Distress and Its Alteration During Treatment in Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma Patients.

Measurement of distress and its alteration during treatment in nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients.

Head Neck. 2013 Jun 26;
Deng YT, Zhong WN, Jiang Y

Background: We examined the criterion-related validity of the Distress Thermometer (DT) for screening distress in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) patients and investigated prospectively how distress changes. Methods: In the cross-sectional study, the DT was tested against the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in 295 NPC patients. In the prospective study, 61 newly diagnosed NPC patients completed the DT and HADS six times. Results: Adopting HADS as the standard tool for screening distress, 31.5% of the NPC patients had distress. A DT cut-off score ?4 had best sensitivity (0.73) and specificity (0.85). In the prospective study, the proportion of patients with distress rose significantly during treatment. Conclusions: ROC findings provide initial support for the validity of the DT among NPC patients. Nearly one third of NPC patients exceeded cut-off values for distress in the cross-sectional study. In the prospective study, the NPC patients’ level of distress increased significantly during concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Head Neck, 2013. HubMed – depression

How much does it hurt to be lonely? Mental and physical differences between older men and women in the KORA-Age Study.

Int J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2013 Jun 27;
Zebhauser A, Hofmann-Xu L, Baumert J, Häfner S, Lacruz ME, Emeny RT, Döring A, Grill E, Huber D, Peters A, Ladwig KH

Loneliness has a deep impact on quality of life in older people. Findings on sex-specific differences on the experience of loneliness remain sparse. This study compared the intensity of and factors associated with loneliness between men and women.Analyses are based on the 2008/2009 data of the KORA-Age Study, comprising 4127 participants in the age range of 64-94?years. An age-stratified random subsample of 1079 subjects participated in a face-to-face interview. Loneliness was measured by using a short German version of the UCLA-Loneliness-Scale (12 items, Likert scaled, ranging from 0 to 36 points). Multiple logistic regression analysis was conducted to analyze the associations of socio-demographic, physical, and psychological factors with loneliness.The mean level of loneliness did not significantly differ between men (17.0?±?4.5) and women (17.5?±?5.1). However, among the oldest old (?85?years), loneliness was higher in women (p value?=?0.047). Depression, low satisfaction with life, and low resilience were associated significantly with loneliness, which was more pronounced in men. Living alone was not associated with loneliness, whereas lower social network was associated with a three time higher risk for feeling lonely in both men and women.The extent of loneliness was equally distributed between men and women, although women were more disadvantaged regarding living arrangements as well as physical and mental health. However, loneliness was stronger associated with adverse mental health conditions in men. These findings should be considered when developing intervention strategies to reduce loneliness. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. HubMed – depression

Sleep Discrepancy, Sleep Complaint, and Poor Sleep Among Older Adults.

J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2013 Jun 26;
Williams JM, Kay DB, Rowe M, McCrae CS

Objectives.Discrepancy between self-report- and actigraphy-measured sleep, often considered an artifact of measurement error, has been well documented among insomnia patients. Sleep problems are common among older adults, and this discrepancy may represent meaningful sleep-related phenomenon, which could have clinical and research significance.Method.Sleep discrepancy was examined in 4 groups of older adults (N = 152, mean age = 71.93 years) based on sleep complaint versus no complaint and presence versus absence of insomnia symptoms. Participants completed the Beck Depression Inventory-second edition (BDI-II) and 14 nights of sleep diaries and actigraphy.Controlling for covariates, group differences were found in the duration and frequency of discrepancy in sleep onset latency (SOLd) and wake after sleep onset (WASOd). Those with insomnia symptoms and complaints reported greater duration and frequency of WASOd than the other 3 groups. Quantities of SOLd and WASOd were related to BDI-II score and group status, indicating that sleep discrepancy has meaningful clinical correlates.Discussion.Discrepancy occurred across all groups but was pronounced among the group with both insomnia symptoms and complaints. This discrepancy may provide a means of quantifying and conceptualizing the transition from wake to sleep among older adults, particularly those with sleeping problems. HubMed – depression

Childlessness and Subjective Well-being in Chinese Widowed Persons.

J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2013 Jun 26;
Cheng ST, Chan TW, Li GH, Leung EM

Objectives.This study examined the effect of childlessness on psychological well-being in widowhood taking into account the influences of social network variables.Method.A total of 273 Chinese widowed individuals who were community dwelling formed the sample of this study. Sixteen percent (n = 44) were childless. Social network variables, instrumental activities of daily living, chronic illnesses, depressive symptoms, life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect were assessed.Childlessness was significantly associated with all outcomes of psychological well-being even after controlling for network size. After positive and negative exchanges were taken into account, the effect of childlessness on depression and life satisfaction became nonsignificant but remained significant on positive and negative affect. Furthermore, the effects of childlessness on depression and life satisfaction were significantly stronger in women than in men. Childlessness also had a stronger association with depression in those with functional impairments.Discussion.Findings support the importance of children, and supportive exchanges with them, for the subjective well-being of Chinese widowed persons. Being women and having physical dependencies might amplify the effects of childlessness. HubMed – depression