Stanford Health Policy is a joint effort of the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies and the Stanford School of Medicine
Sherri Rose
By Tara Templin
OBJECTIVES: Determine the relative impact of chronic hepatitis C (CHC) and co-morbid illnesses on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in 3023 randomly selected veterans with known hepatitis C virus antibody (anti-HCV) status who previously completed a veteran-specific HRQoL questionnaire (SF-36V).
METHODS: Multiple regression analyses were performed to measure the relative contribution of anti-HCV status, four demographic variables, and ten common medical and six psychiatric co-morbidities to HRQoL between 303 anti-HCV(+) and 2720 anti-HCV(-) patients.
Objective: To evaluate Breslau's 7-item screen for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) for use in primary care.
Design: One hundred and thirty-four patients were recruited from primary care clinics at a large medical center. Participants completed the self-administered 7-item PTSD screen. Later, psychologists blinded to the results of the screen-interviewed patients using the Clinician Administered PTSD Scale (CAPS). Sensitivity, specificity, and likelihood ratios (LR) were calculated using the CAPS as the criterion for PTSD.
This study examined drinking to cope with distress and drinking behavior in a baseline sample of 412 unipolar depressed patients assessed 4 times over a 10-year period. Baseline drinking to cope operated prospectively as a risk factor for more alcohol consumption at 1-, 4-, and 10-year follow-ups and for more drinking problems at 1- and 4-year follow-ups. Findings elucidate a key mechanism in this process by showing that drinking to cope strengthened the link between depressive symptoms and drinking behavior.