Professor Dr. med. Christian ScharfetterDept. of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy & PsychosomaticsPsychiatric Hospital, University of Zurich |
|
|
Mortality of Patients with Mood DisordersFollow-up studies of causes of death in affectively ill patients typically find markedly elevated suicide rates compared to the general population, while the increase in mortality due to other causes appears to be much less pronounced. When subdivided by gender, diagnosis and treatment, mortality rates vary considerably across studies. To address these questions, we have analyzed data of a prospective study where patients hospitalized with a diagnosis of affective disorders (n=406) were followed prospectively over a period of at least 22 years. Of these patients, 292 died during the observation period. The causes of death could be assessed for almost all of them. Mortality RatesStandardised mortality rates (observed deaths/expected deaths) were found to be generally elevated, in particular with respect to suicides and cardiovascular diseases in both men and women. Women tended to have higher suicide rates, but this might be an artifact due to stratification problems in the general population. Unipolar patients had significantly higher rates of suicide than patients with a diagnosis of bipolar illness (BP-I and BP-II). Impact of Long-Term MedicationLong-term medication with antidepressants, neuroleptics, or lithium in combination with antidepressants and/or neuroleptics significantly lowered suicide rates even though the respective patients were more severely ill. The suicide rates turned out to be almost constant between the ages of 30 to 70 years, largely independent of the time course of illness. References
Angst J., Scharfetter C, Stassen HH: Classification of Schizoaffective Patients by
Multidimensional Scaling and Cluster Analysis. Psychiatria Clin 1983; 16:
254-264
Angst J, Bänninger R, Nüsperli M, Scharfetter C, Stassen HH: Syndromale Gruppierungen endogener
Psychosen in genetischer Sicht. In: Perspektiven der Schizophrenie-Forschung, ed: Pflug B.,
Foerster K., Straube E.; Fischer, Stuttgart New York, 1985: 25-38
Stassen HH, Scharfetter C, Angst J: Morbid risks of subgroups of affective disorders: some
methodological and empirical results. J Psychiat Research 1987; 21: 347-355
Stassen HH, Scharfetter C, Winokur G, Angst J: Familial syndrome patterns in schizophrenia,
schizoaffective disorder, mania and depression. Eur Arch Psychiatr Neurol Sci 1988; 237:
115-123
Angst J, Stassen HH, Gross G, Huber G, Stone MH: Suicide in affective and schizoaffective
disorders. In: Marneros A. and Tsuang M.T. (eds) Affective and Schizoaffective disorders.
Springer, Berlin-Heidelberg 1990: 168-185
Stassen HH, Schmid GB, Gross G, Angst J, Huber G: Prädiktoren des langfristigen Verlaufs
schizophrener Erkrankungen. In: G. Huber (ed), Idiopathische Psychosen: Psychopathologie,
Neurologie, Therapie. Schattauer, Stuttgart-New York, 1990: 95-104
Scharfetter C, Stassen HH: Psychopathological concepts. Psychopathology 1995; 28: 8-12
Stassen HH, Ragaz M, Reich T: Age-of-onset or age-cohort changes in the lifetime occurrence of
depression? Psychiat Genetics 1997; 7: 27-34
Angst J, Stassen HH: Methodische Probleme der Prüfung von Antidepressiva. In: Stieglitz RD,
Fähndrich E, Möller HJ (eds): Syndromale Diagnostik psychischer Störungen. Hogrefe, Göttingen
1998: 5-12
Angst J, Angst F, Stassen HH: Suicide risk in patients with major depressive disorder. J Clin
Psychiatry 1999; 60,2: 57-62
Angst F, Stassen HH, Clayton PJ, Angst J: Mortality of patients with mood disorders: follow-up
over 34 to 38 years. J Aff Disorders 2002; 68: 167-181
Stassen HH: Veränderungen der Sprechmotorik. In: T.Jahn (ed) Bewegungsstörungen bei psychischen
Erkrankungen. Springer Heidelberg 2004: 107-125
Angst J, Sellaro R, Stassen HH, Gamma A: Diagnostic conversion from depression to bipolar
disorders: results of a long-term prospective study of hospital admissions. J Aff Disorders
2005; 84(2-3): 149-157
Stassen HH, Angst J, Scharfetter C, Szegedi A: Therapie mit Antidepressiva: Erfolg von
genetischen Faktoren abhängig? Leading Opinions, Neurologie & Psychiatrie 2005; 6: 25-27
Stassen HH, Scharfetter C: Ethnische Zugehörigkeit und Vulnerabilität am Beispiel der
Affektkrankheiten und Schizophrenien. Die Psychiatrie 2005; 2: 85-95
Stassen HH, Angst J, Scharfetter C: Genetik affektiver Störungen —der quantitative Ansatz
syndrom-orientierter Modelle. In: M. Leuzinger-Bohleber, S. Hau, H. Deserno (hsg): Depression
—Pluralismus in Praxis und Forschung, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2005, pp. 219-257
Stassen HH, Scharfetter C, Angst J: Functional Psychoses —Molecular-genetic Evidence for a
Continuum. In: A. Marneros and H.S. Akiskal (eds) The overlap of affective and schizophrenic
spectra. Cambridge University Press 2006; pp. 55-78
Stassen HH, Scharfetter C: Vulnerability, resilience and response to psychotropic drugs:
shared genetic factors? Am J Med Genetics 2006; 141: 707-708
Stassen HH, Angst J, Hell D, Scharfetter C, Szegedi A: Is there a common resilience mechanism
underlying antidepressant drug response? Evidence from 2848 patients. J Clin Psychiatry
2007; 68(8): 1195-1205
|
|
Manlio Bacosi (1921-1998): Mirror image — mirror-inverted person (oil on canvas, 80 x 100cm). |
|
| [ Mail to Webmaster ] k454910@ifrg.ch |
|
