BACKGROUND Exposure to severe stress in early pregnancy is associated with a lower male to female ratio (sex ratio), but whether more moderate levels of psychological discomfort have the same kind of effect is unknown. In a population based follow-up study, we aimed to test whether psychological distress was associated with the sex ratio in the offspring. METHODS From 1989 to 1992, a cohort o...

OBJECTIVE Postpartum depression (PPD) is a serious psychiatric disorder affecting 10% to 20% of women after childbirth. Research has shown that systematic screening for PPD using self-report questionnaires helps improve the identification of PPD and expedite treatment. Most studies on PPD screening have been conducted in the second and third postpartum months; little is known about whether PPD ...

STUDY OBJECTIVE To examine social inequalities in minor psychiatric morbidity as measured by the GHQ-12 using lagged models of psychiatric morbidity and changing job status. DESIGN GHQ scores were modelled using two level hierarchical regression models with measurement occasions nested within individuals. The paper compares and contrasts three different ways of describing social position: inc...

This study examined whether allelic status of the D2 dopamine receptor (DRD2) gene was associated with response to a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor, paroxetine, in the treatment of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Sixty-three Caucasian war veterans with combat-related PTSD were treated with paroxetine for 8 weeks. Patients were assessed at baseline and at follow-up using the Genera...

INTRODUCTION A study was done between December 2005 and January 2006 to determine the prevalence of emotional disorders among medical students in a private medical school in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia and to determine the demographical characteristics, contributing factors and the key person consulted for emotional problems. METHODS Medical students in the private medical school completed the 12-i...

BACKGROUND Studies on job satisfaction and health have mainly been carried out among Caucasian populations. Similar studies are lacking in Nigeria. AIM To investigate the level of job satisfaction and its relationship to psychological disorder amongst Nigerian doctors. METHODS All 190 doctors at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital were invited to participate in a cross-sectional study...

In order to clarify the relationships between lifestyle behaviors and mental health status in Japanese workers, the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) and Zung's Self-rating Depression Scale (SDS) were administered to 254 male factory workers; further, eight of their personal health practices were surveyed using the Health Practice Index (HPI). Few studies have used the GHQ-28 and SD...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE Psychiatric disorders (and their high rates of prevalence) in primary care have been widely analyzed, but the problem of underdiagnosis remains unresolved. This becomes increasingly more important in rural health centres in the face of lack of epidemiological data from these centres. The aim of this study is focused on the relationship between general health, psychiat...

TO THE EDITOR: We read the article by Tse et al. 1 with interest , which showed the usefulness of 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12) as a reliable screening tool for psychiatric disorders in the patients with functional dyspepsia. Interesting studies were recently published showed anxiety to be linked to functional dyspepsia and especially postprandial distress syndrome, but not epig...

The 12-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ12) is a widely used screening instrument. Oneand two-factor structures have been identified in some countries. In Brazil, the best factor structure is still unclear. This study aimed at knowing its factorial validity and reliability, and testing the one-factor and two-factor models. The participants were 7,512 Brazilian physicians. They answered the...