Dental anxiety: prevalence and evaluation of psychometric properties of a scale

Aim: To estimate the reliability and validity of the Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) and identify the prevalence and the effect of the socio-demographic characteristics of dental anxiety, in a sample of 212 adults. Methods: The psychometric sensitivity of the scale was assessed. A confirmatory factor analysis was performed, and the convergent validity and internal consistency were determined. The prevalence of anxiety was estimated, and the effect of socio-demographic variables on anxiety was assessed using structural equation modelling. Results: The participants’ mean age was 33.5 (SD = 15.6) years, and 62.3% were female. There was an adequate factorial adjustment of the scale in this sample. The convergent validity and internal consistency were adequate in the one-factor model. Regarding two-factor model, there was a high correlation (r) among the factors, which jeopardized the discriminant validity. A total of 47.6% of the participants (IC95% = 40.9 - 54.4) presented low levels of anxiety, 32.5% (IC95% = 26.2 - 38.9) moderate levels, and 12.3% (IC95% = 7.8 - 16.7) exacerbated levels. There was a non-significant effect of gender, age and education on the anxiety levels of this sample. Conclusion: We concluded that the one-factor model presented better psychometric qualities, that anxiety was highly prevalent and there was no significant effect of the demographic variables on anxiety, in this sample

Ansiedade frente ao tratamento odontológico: prevalência e fatores predictores em brasileiros

Diante do impacto negativo que a ansiedade exerce sobre o atendimento odontológico, buscou-se conhecer sua prevalência e seus fatores predictores frente esse tratamento em brasileiros. Foi realizado um estudo de corte transversal, utilizando-se a escala de ansiedade de Corah para avaliar 3000 pacientes. Os resultados demonstram que 2 em cada 8 brasileiros avaliados apresentaram moderada ou severa ansiedade frente ao atendimento odontológico, verificando-se que a probabilidade de um paciente da população da qual a amostra foi extraída apresentar ansiedade é mais elevada se: for mulher (p = 0,007), da faixa etária superior a 20 anos (p = 0,006), se não possuir acesso a internet e/ou jornais (p = 0,016), se tiver baixa frequência de higiene oral (p = 0,001), se a visita dental for motivada por busca de tratamento curativo, por dor ou outro problema, ao invés de um check-up (p = 0,047), e experiência de odontalgia (p<0,001). O medo e a ansiedade a fatores odontológicos existem de fato na população brasileira e as conclusões do estudo sugerem que, além da falta de recursos econômicos, o descaso com a saúde bucal, o gênero e a idade podem aumentar o grau de ansiedade.

Cerebellar Cognitive Affective Syndrome in Machado Joseph Disease: Core Clinical Features

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Cognitive Deficits in Machado-Joseph Disease Correlate with Hypoperfusion of Visual System Areas

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Relationship between psychological factors and symptoms of TMD in university undergraduate students.

Temporomandibular disorders is a collective term used to describe a number of related disorders involving the temporomandibular joints, masticatory muscles and occlusion with common symptoms such as pain, restricted movement, muscle tenderness and intermittent joint sounds. The multifactorial TMD etiology is related to emotional tension, occlusal interferences, tooth loss, postural deviation, masticatory muscular dysfunction, internal and external changes in TMJ structure and the various associations of these factors. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of the relationship between signs of psychological distress and temporomandibular disorder in university students. A total 150 volunteers participated in this study. They attended different courses in the field of human science at one public university and four private universities. TMD was assessed by the Research Diagnostic Criteria (RDC) questionnaire. Anxiety was measured by means of a self-evaluative questionnaire, Spielberger's Trait-State anxiety inventory, to evaluate students'state and trait anxiety. The results of the two questionnaires were compared to determine the relationship between anxiety levels and severity degrees of chronic TMD pain by means of the chi-square test. The significance level was set at 5%. The statistical analysis showed that the TMD degree has a positive association with state-anxiety (p = 0.008; p < 0.05) and negative with trait-anxiety (p = 0.619; p < 0.05). Moreover a high TMD rate was observed among the students (40%). This study concluded that there is a positive association between TMD and anxiety.

Escala de ansiedade odontológica: Reprodutibilidade das respostas dadas em entrevistas telefônicas e pessoais

Objective: To estimate the intra-examiner reproducibility of the Dental Anxiety Scale (DAS) when applied by phone and personal interviews and to evaluate the association between the level of anxiety and the factors of interest. Method: The participants were 50 individuals (n=38 females) with mean age of 23.9±8.9 years, living in the city of Araraquara, SP, Brazil. The volunteers answered the DAS by means of two phone interviews with one-week interval between them. After 30 days, the DAS was applied to the same participants by means of personal interviews at two moments with one-week interval between them. Intra-examiner reproducibility was determined using Kappa (K) statistics by point and by confidence interval. Results: The intra-examiner agreement for the level of anxiety was 0.82 (0.75-0.90) for the phone interview and 0.69 (0.60-0.79) for the personal interview. Two of the DAS questions presented statistically significant difference in the intra-examiner reproducibility, with better agreement for the answers given by the participants during phone calls. The prevalence of dental anxiety in the sample was 92.0%, in such a way that 70.0%, 18.0% and 4.0% of them presented low, moderate and exacerbated anxiety. Conclusion: The classification of the individuals according to the anxiety level performed by means of phone and personal interviews presented statistically similar agreement. However, there was better agreement with phone calls for the questions referring to anxiety in the dental office's waiting room and during preparation of the motor for use in the dental treatment.

Prevalência de sintomas ansiosos e depressivos em pacientes acompanhados em Ambulatório de Cuidados Paliatiovos do Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu

Pós-graduação em Saúde Coletiva - FMB

Massagem com aromaterapia e sua eficiência para o usuário em internação psiquiátrica

Pós-graduação em Enfermagem (mestrado profissional) - FMB

The Brazilian version of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Clinician rating scale (NPI-C): Reliability and validity in dementia

ABSTRACT Background: Patients with dementia may be unable to describe their symptoms, and caregivers frequently suffer emotional burden that can interfere with judgment of the patient's behavior. The Neuropsychiatric Inventory-Clinician rating scale (NPI-C) was therefore developed as a comprehensive and versatile instrument to assess and accurately measure neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) in dementia, thereby using information from caregiver and patient interviews, and any other relevant available data. The present study is a follow-up to the original, cross-national NPI-C validation, evaluating the reliability and concurrent validity of the NPI-C in quantifying psychopathological symptoms in dementia in a large Brazilian cohort. Methods: Two blinded raters evaluated 312 participants (156 patient-knowledgeable informant dyads) using the NPI-C for a total of 624 observations in five Brazilian centers. Inter-rater reliability was determined through intraclass correlation coefficients for the NPI-C domains and the traditional NPI. Convergent validity included correlations of specific domains of the NPI-C with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Index (CMAI), the Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD), and the Apathy Inventory (AI). Results: Inter-rater reliability was strong for all NPI-C domains. There were high correlations between NPI-C/delusions and BPRS, NPI-C/apathy-indifference with the AI, NPI-C/depression-dysphoria with the CSDD, NPI-C/agitation with the CMAI, and NPI-C/aggression with the CMAI. There was moderate correlation between the NPI-C/aberrant vocalizations and CMAI and the NPI-C/hallucinations with the BPRS. Conclusion: The NPI-C is a comprehensive tool that provides accurate measurement of NPS in dementia with high concurrent validity and inter-rater reliability in the Brazilian setting. In addition to universal assessment, the NPI-C can be completed by individual domains. © International Psychogeriatric Association 2013.

Proinflammatory Cytokines Correlate with Depression and Anxiety in Colorectal Cancer Patients

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)