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. 2019 Jan;61(Suppl 3):S359–S360.

BOMBAY PSYCHIATRIC SOCIETY SILVER JUBILEE AWARD

PMCID: PMC6366285
Indian J Psychiatry. 2019 Jan;61(Suppl 3):S359–S360.

1) Reproductive health needs of women with schizophrenia: Findings from a cross-sectional study on contraception among women with schizophrenia attending a tertiary care centre in South India.

Bhuvaneshwari Sethuraman 1, Arun Rachana 1, Suja Kurian 1

Context:

Women with schizophrenia have needs beyond their mental health needs. It arises out of their gender, sexual and reproductive functions. Very little is known about the reproductive health needs of women with schizophrenia from India.

Aims:

The study explored the knowledge, attitude and practice of contraception among women with schizophrenia

Settings and Design:

Ninety six married women with Schizophrenia attending outpatient treatment facility of a tertiary care centre in South India were evaluated. Cross sectional assessment on knowledge, attitude, and practice on contraception were done.

Methods and Materials:

Modified version of standardised questionnaire from National Family Health Survey-3, (India) and PANSS were used for assessment.

Statistical analysis used:

Data analysis was done using SPSS version 16.0.

Results:

Mean age of participants was 33.5 years. Among 96 participants 88.5% had knowledge on at least one method and 51% had knowledge of more than one method of contraception. Out of 65 women who were practising contraception 86.2% had opted for female sterilization. Common reasons for not using contraception were wish for another child/son, lack of awareness and fear of side effects. Unmet need for family planning was 14%. Informed choice was below 3%.

Conclusions:

Majority had some knowledge about contraception. Two thirds of them used contraception, but decision-making and informed choice regarding contraception were poor. These could pose obstetric risk on women with schizophrenia and affect their quality of life. Sociocultural and illness-related factors, influencing contraceptive behaviour need to be explored.

Key-words: Contraception, family planning, schizophrenia, women, reproductive health

Indian J Psychiatry. 2019 Jan;61(Suppl 3):S359–S360.

2) Comparison of efficacy and tolerability of Escitaloparm and Venlafaxine in Treatment naïve patients with unipolar non psychotic depression: Is there a need to revisit the the prescription patterns?

Kaur Harneet 1, Sidana Ajit 1, Singh TK 1

Background

Depression is a common mental illness for which guidelines recommend SSRIs as the first line treatment. As per STAR*D trial the first antidepressant needs to be chosen carefully so that number of treatment changes and therefore treatment resistance can be reduced. This study compared the efficacy and tolerability of escitalopram and venlafaxine, in treatment naïve patients with first episode, non -psychotic unipolar depression.

Methods

In this prospective, randomized, open label study, 77 patients with the ICD 10-DCR diagnosis of depression were inducted and randomly assigned using a computer-generated random table to receive either escitalopram (10-20mg/day) or venlafaxine (75-225mg/day) in therapeutic range for a period of 12 weeks.

The assessments included HDRS and physical investigations at baseline and week 2, 6 and 12. A total of 60 patients completed the study and were included in the final analysis.

Results

30 patients in each group (N=60) enrolled with comparable baseline assessment except significantly higher HDRS in venlafaxine (29.87+10.58) compared to escitalopram group (21.80+4.41). At 12 weeks, the reduction in HDRS was significantly early and higher in the venlafaxine group (26.3± 9.7) than the escitalopram group (21.3 ± 4.2). Common adverse effects in venlafaxine group included GI activation and vivid dreams which were seen till 2 weeks; escitalopram group included sexual dysfunction which lasted till the end of study.

Conclusions

Both the molecules lead to significant reduction in HDRS scores across assessment. However, Venlafaxine demonstrated superior efficacy and transient adverse effects compared to escitalopram; despite having higher HDRS scores at baseline. The results of the current study indicate that SNRIs like venlafaxine should be prescribed more often in routine clinical practice.

Keywords

Escitalopram, Venlafaxine, Depression

Indian J Psychiatry. 2019 Jan;61(Suppl 3):S359–S360.

3) Mirror neuron system dysfunction in patients with manic episode and its relation with symptoms severity and response to treatment-a qEEG study”

Surjendu Bikash Khatua *, Nishant Goyal *, CRJ Khess *, Rajeev Ranjan Sahoo *

Background:

Mirror neuron system (MNS) dysfunction has been consistently reported in bipolar disorder, especially in euthymic phase. In the acute manic phase, loss of inhibitory control over the MNS results in hyper-imitative or hyper-empathetic states. It would be of interest to study mirror neuron activity (MNA) in the manic phase and its role in relation to symptoms severity and response to treatment using mu wave suppression as an index of MNA.

Materials and Methods:

20 manic patients and 20 controls (HC) were recruited. EEG recording was done using 256 channels while the subjects were viewing a virtual avatar social cognition task. In the patient group, EEG recording was done first at acute phase then after remission.

Results:

In the acute phase patient had significantly greater mu wave suppression during sad emotion task as compared with HC group but did not show any significant change in mu wave suppression on remission. The male patient group had greater mu wave suppression than the female in the acute phase.

Conclusion:

The current study suggests that, increased mirror neuron activity (MNA) is at the core of mania but its role is different with respect to valence of emotion, various symptoms cluster and gender.

Keywords: Mirror neuron, Mu suppression, Mania.

Indian J Psychiatry. 2019 Jan;61(Suppl 3):S359–S360.

4) A study on effect of sleep training program in children with ADHD: A comparative prospective study.

Allauki P Dani1 1, Henal R Shah2, Ravindra Kamath3

Background:

ADHD is one of the most common neuropsychiatric disorder affecting children. Sleep problems are common in them and lead to impairment of behavior, quality of life and functioning.

Aims:

To study complementary effect of sleep training program in ADHD children receiving tablet Methylphenidate in following aspects: sleep; quality of life (QOL); social, behavioral, emotional and executive functioning of children; and their parent’s mental state.

Settings and Design:

A comparative and prospective study, conducted in child mental health services of a tertiary care municipal hospital.

Methods and materials:

The children were diagnosed as ADHD using DSM 5 criteria. 100 participants (parent-child dyad) were selected and randomly equally divided into 2 groups- A and B. Semi-structured proforma was filled and scales applied to children- Children’s sleep habit questionnaire, Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire, Pediatric QOL Inventory, Stroop test and Verbal fluency test and to parentDepression Anxiety Stress Scale-21. Then, participants in group A received sleep intervention in the form of a validated module. Scales were reapplied after 12 weeks.

Statistical Analysis:

Chi-square test, Paired-t test, Unpaired-t test, Wilcoxon signed rank test, Mann Whitney U test, Spearman’s correlation test and Logistic regression analysis were used for data analysis. ‘p’value<0.05-significant. SPSS version 20 software was used for data analysis.

Results and Conclusion:

We found significant post intervention improvement in sleep, QOL, social, behavioral and executive functioning in child and emotional factors in parents. Thus combination of sleep intervention and Methylphenidate was more effective in improving all these factors than Methylphenidate alone.

Key words: ADHD, sleep interventions, methylphenidate.

Articles from Indian Journal of Psychiatry are provided here courtesy of Wolters Kluwer -- Medknow Publications

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