OBJECTIVE Spouse caregivers have an increased risk of mental and physical illness during caregiving and widowhood. The authors sought to evaluate whether partners of an ill spouse have a higher likelihood of developing mental health or substance abuse (MHSA) disorders than partners who have healthy spouses, accounting for both spousal illness and death. METHODS The authors used Medicare claim...

OBJECTIVE We assessed racial and ethnic differences in depression diagnosis and treatment in a primary care population. METHODS A sample of primary care outpatients in 2007 was generated using the electronic medical record (EMR). Patients were considered depressed if their providers billed for depression-related codes; they were considered prescribed antidepressants if any antidepressants wer...

BACKGROUND Behavioral factors may play a role in heart failure (HF) care costs by increasing hospital readmission rates. This study sought to estimate the effect of depression on health care costs for patients hospitalized for HF. METHODS A 3-year retrospective cohort study of a staff-model health maintenance organization. Following a first hospitalization with a primary diagnosis of HF, 1098...

INTRODUCTION Patients with abdominal pain often return multiple times despite no definitive diagnosis. Our objective was to determine if repeat emergency department (ED) use among patients with non-specific abdominal pain might be associated with a diagnosis of moderate to severe depressive disorder. METHODS We screened 987 ED patients for major depression during weekday daytime hours from Ju...

PURPOSE Depression is highly prevalent in palliative care patients. In clinical practice, there is concern about both insufficient and excessive diagnosis and treatment of depression. In the Netherlands, family physicians have a central role in delivering palliative care. We explored variation in family physicians' opinions regarding the recognition, diagnosis, and management of depression in p...

abstract background: nowadays, depression is one of the most prevalent mental diseases to which some individuals like mothers of mentally retarded children are more vulnerable due to their (children’s) special condition. therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the level of depression and its related factors in these mothers. materials and methods: this cross-sectional study was conduc...

abstract background: chronic urticaria (cu) is a common dermatological disease that induces a substantial burden on individuals’ life. also if one’s self-image changes (which usually happen in patients with dermatological diseases), it leads to anxiety or other various symptoms. we aimed to compare the psychological scales in patients with cu with non-dermatological individuals with the purpose...

purpose: to detect the prevalence of dry eye after vitrectomy and its influencing factors. methods: schirmer i, tear basic secretion test and tear breakup time was done preoperatively and 3 months postoperatively on consecutive patients undergoing vitrectomy in khatam hospital from 2005 to 2006. eyes with previous peritomies of more than 120◦ and symptoms of dry eye or tear tests compatible wit...

The diagnosis of depression is defined by psychiatrists, and guidelines for treatment of patients with depression are created in psychiatry. However, most patients with depression are treated exclusively in general practice. Psychiatrists point out that general practitioners' (GPs') treatment of depression is insufficient and a collaborative care (CC) model between general practice and psychiat...