Hostname: page-component-6bf8c574d5-w79xw Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-17T13:24:02.571Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Computed Tomography and the Outcome of Affective Disorder: A Follow-up Study of Elderly Patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Robin J. Jacoby ,
Raymond Levy  and
Jonathan M. Bird
Robin J. Jacoby
Affiliation:
The Middlesex Hospital, Mortimer Street, London W1N 8AA
Raymond Levy
Affiliation:
De Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
Jonathan M. Bird
Affiliation:
The Bethlem Royal and Maudsley Hospitals and the Institute of Psychiatry, Dc Crespigny Park, Denmark Hill, London SE5 8AF
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Forty-one subjects from an earlier study, who had undergone computed tomography (CT) during their in-patient care for affective disorder, were followed up clinically for a minimum of one year. Mortality at two years was also determined, and comparisons made with 50 age-matched controls. Those with affective disorder showed a higher mortality than controls, but the difference just failed to reach significance. Within the affective group, however, mortality was significantly higher in patients who had previously shown ventricular enlargement on CT, confirming our earlier suggestion that these patients might have constituted a distinct subgroup. Failure of the affective group to improve performance on a simple cognitive test at follow-up was related to persisting depression. These and other findings are discussed.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 139 , Issue 4 , October 1981 , pp. 288 - 292
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1981 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Carney, M. W. P., Roth, M. & Garside, R. F. (1965) The diagnosis of depressive syndromes and the prediction of ECT response. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 659–74.Google Scholar
Copeland, J. R. M., Kelleher, M. J., Kellett, J. M., Gourlay, A. J., Gurland, B. J., Fleiss, J. L. & Sharpe, L. (1976) A semi-structured clinical interview for the assessment of diagnosis and mental state in the elderly: the Geriatric Mental State Schedule. I. Development and reliability. Psychological Medicine, 6, 439–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gurland, B. J., Fleiss, J. L., Goldberg, K., Sharpe, L., Copeland, J. R. M., Kelleher, M. J. & Kellett, J. M. (1976) A semi-structured clinical interview for the assessment of diagnosis and mental state in the elderly: the Geriatric Mental State Schedule. II. A factor analysis. Psychological Medicine, 6, 451–9.Google Scholar
Hamilton, M. (1960) A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry, 23, 56—62.Google Scholar
Hemsi, L. K., Whitehead, A. & Post, F. (1968) Cognitive functioning and cerebral arousal in elderly depressives and dements. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 12, 145–56.Google Scholar
Hendrickson, E., Levy, R. & Post, F. (1979) Averaged evoked responses in relation to cognitive and affective state of elderly psychiatric patients. British Journal of Psychiatry, 134, 494—501.Google Scholar
Hodkinson, H. M. (1973) Mental impairment in the elderly. Journal of the Royal College of Physicians of London, 7, 305–17.Google Scholar
Jacoby, R. J., Levy, R. & Dawson, J. M. (1980) Computed tomography in the elderly: 1. The normal population. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 249–55.Google Scholar
Jacoby, R. J. & Levy, R. (1980a) Computed tomography in the elderly: 2. Senile dementia: diagnosis and functional impairment. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 256–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jacoby, R. J. & Levy, R. (1980b) Computed tomography in the elderly: 3. Affective disorder. British Journal of Psychiatry, 136, 270–5.Google ScholarPubMed
Kay, D. W. K. (1962) Outcome and cause of death in mental disorders of old age: a long-term follow-up of functional and organic psychoses. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 38, 249–76.Google Scholar
Kendell, R. E. (1974) The stability of psychiatric diagnoses. British Journal of Psychiatry, 124, 352–6.Google Scholar
Kendrick, D. C. (1965) Speed and learning in the diagnosis of diffuse brain damage in elderly subjects: a Bayesian statistical approach. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 4, 141–8.Google Scholar
Madden, J. J., Luhan, J. A., Kaplan, L. A. & Manfredi, H. M. (1952) Nondementing psychoses in older persons. Journal of the American Medical Association, 150, 1567–70.Google Scholar
Post, F. (1962) The Significance of Affective Symptoms in Old Age. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Post, F. (1965) The Clinical Psychiatry of Late Life. Oxford: Pergamon Press.Google Scholar
Post, F. (1968) In Recent Developments in Affective Disorders (eds. Coppen, A. and Walk, A.). Ashford: Headley Brothers.Google Scholar
Post, F. (1972) The management and nature of depressive illness in late life: a follow-through study. British Journal of Psychiatry, 121, 393—404.Google Scholar
Post, F. (1975) Dementia, depression and pseudodementia. In Psychiatric Aspects of Neurologic Disease (eds. Benson, D. F. and Blumer, D.). New York: Grune & Stratton.Google Scholar
Roth, M. (1955) The natural history of mental disorder in old age. Journal of Mental Science, 101, 281—301.Google Scholar
Stenstedt, A. (1959) Involutional melancholia: an etiologic, clinical and social study of endogenous depression in later life, with special reference to genetic factors. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, Supplement 127.Google Scholar
Wechsler, D. (1955) The Wechsler Manual. New York: The Psychological Corporation.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.