Validation of an Abbreviated Quality of Life Scale for Schizophrenia.
Validation of an abbreviated quality of life scale for schizophrenia.
Filed under: Addiction Rehab
Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2012 Dec 9;
Fervaha G, Remington G
The field of therapeutics in schizophrenia is redefining optimal outcome, moving beyond clinical remission to a more comprehensive model that also includes functional recovery. The Quality of Life Scale (QLS) has been adopted by many large clinical trials, including CATIE and CUtLASS, as a measure of functioning. The QLS is a 21-item semi-structured interview that takes approximately 45min to administer. Although the QLS is considered comprehensive, its length limits its applicability across studies. To circumvent this issue, short scales of the QLS have been created that estimate total scores with high accuracy. However, these abbreviated measures have not been adequately cross-validated in a large enough sample to allow for subsample estimations nor has its predictive ability been compared to the full scale. Here, we used data from the CATIE trial (n=1460) to demonstrate the validity and utility of an abbreviated 7-item QLS. The shortened QLS was robust in estimating total scores (r=0.953, p<0.001) across subsamples and demonstrated predictive ability similar to the full QLS in multiple regression models. The abridged QLS is recommended as a surrogate measure of psychosocial functioning, especially in cases where functioning is not the primary outcome. HubMed – addiction
Comprehensive care with antiretroviral therapy for injecting-drug users associates to low community viral load and restriction of HIV outbreak.
Filed under: Addiction Rehab
J Int AIDS Soc. 2012; 15(6): 18394
Kivelä P, Liitsola K, Aho I, Simola S, Tuomola P, Salminen M, Ristola M
An outbreak of HIV was detected amongst Finnish injecting-drug users (IDUs) in 1998. The outbreak was caused by CRF01-AE virus [1]. A comprehensive care programme including infectious diseases, addiction medicine, low threshold methadone program, needle exchange, accommodation and other social services started in December 2000. Funding was provided by municipalities. We have described earlier how the outbreak became geographically and socially restricted [2]. The data of newly diagnosed HIV infections in the hospital district of Helsinki and Uusimaa (Helsinki region) amongst IDUs and HIV-1 subtypes were obtained from the Finnish national HIV registry. The Helsinki University Central Hospital (HUCH) registry was used to obtain the number of IDUs in HIV care, on antiretroviral therapy (ART), and plasma HIV-1 RNA (VL) amongst IDUs. The HUCH registry also includes IDUs diagnosed with HIV infection in other Finnish regions, but currently living in Helsinki region. The highest number (n=65) of newly diagnosed HIV infections among IDUs in Helsinki region was observed in 1999 (Figure 1). Between 1998 and 2011, 249 IDUs were diagnosed with HIV infection. From 1998 to 2004 the subtype was CRF01-AE in 187 (92%) cases, other subtypes in 5 (2%) cases and not subtyped in 11 (5%) cases. From 2005 to 2011 the subtype was CRF01-AE in 25 (54%) cases, other subtypes in 15 (33%) cases and not subtyped in 6 (13%) cases. In 2011 there were 4 IDUs diagnosed with HIV, one of them with CRF01-AE. In the Helsinki region out of 183 HIV-infected IDUs in 2005, 100 (55%) had VL<50 copies/ml and out of 167 HIV-infected IDUs in 2011, 133 (80%) had VL<50 copies/ml in 2011. We propose that from 2005 the low HIV-1 RNA in plasma of IDUs has contributed to the low incidence of HIV among IDUs in Helsinki region. However, the incidence of HIV started to decline before the decline of VL in the cohort (Figure 1 ). This suggests that other factors besides ART may have decreased the risk of HIV infection among IDUs before ART coverage of the cohort became considerable. Other subtypes of HIV circulated among IDUs in the Helsinki region during the observation period, which emphasises the necessity of health promoting services (e.g. needle exchange) to be available to all IDUs. HubMed – addiction
Retrospective evaluation of late presentation and retention in care in a monocentric cohort of HIV-patients in 2006-2011.
Filed under: Addiction Rehab
J Int AIDS Soc. 2012; 15(6): 18301
Ursini T, Polilli E, Sozio F, Mazzotta E, Tontodonati M, Di Stefano P, Vadini F, Placido G, Agostinone A, Consorte A, Di Masi F, Cacciatore P, Pieri A, Calella G, De Cono P, Fazii P, D’Antonio D, Parruti G
Almost 1/3 of HIV-infected individuals enter health care late in the course of infection, worsening their prognosis and costs of care. According to the recent European consensus definitions, late presenters are persons presenting with CD4 counts <350/?L, and presenters with advanced HIV disease have CD4 HubMed – addiction
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