Alexandru Pavel

Dr. Alexandru Pavel

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

7Years (2020-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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21 July 2022 in BMJ Open
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
VMValentin Petre Matei
Valentin Petre Matei
ARAlina Elena Rosca
Alina Elena Rosca
APAlexandru Pavel
Alexandru Pavel
RPRadu Mihai Paun
Radu Mihai Paun
GGGerhard Gmel
Gerhard Gmel
JSJoseph Studer
Joseph Studer
Objective To investigate the risk factors for and the consequences (ie, substance use disorders (SUD), depression, personality traits) of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in young Swiss men. Design This is a three-wave cohort study. Risk factors were measured at baseline (2010–2012) and at follow-up 1 (FU1; 2012–2014), while the consequences and TBI were measured at follow-up 2 (FU2; 2016–2018). Setting Switzerland. Participants All participants at FU2 (Mage=25.43, SD=1.25) of the Cohort Study on Substance Use Risk Factors (N=4881 young Swiss men after listwise deletion). Measures The outcomes measured were TBI, SUD (ie, alcohol, nicotine, cannabis, other illicit drugs), depression and personality traits (ie, sensation seeking, anxiety-neuroticism, sociability, aggression-hostility) at FU2. The predictors were previous TBI (lifetime TBI but not in the past 12 months at FU2), SUD, personality traits and sociodemographics (highest level of achieved education, age, linguistic region) measured at FU1. Results At FU2, 3919 (80.3%) participants reported to never have had TBI, 102 (2.1%) have had TBI in the last 12 months (TBI new cases), and 860 (17.6%) have had TBI during their lifetime but not in the 12 months preceding FU2 (previous TBI). Low educational attainment (OR=3.93, 95% CI 2.10 to 7.36), depression (OR=2.87, 95% CI 1.35 to 6.11), nicotine dependence (OR=1.72, 95% CI 1.09 to 2.71), high sociability (OR=1.18, 95% CI 1.07 to 1.30), high aggression-hostility (OR=1.15, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.26) and high sensation seeking (OR=1.33, 95% CI 1.04 to 1.68) at FU1 were significantly associated with TBI new cases at FU2. Previous TBI was significantly associated with nicotine dependence (OR=1.46, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.83), depression (OR=2.16, 95% CI 1.56 to 2.99) and aggression-hostility (B=0.14, 95% CI >0.00 to 0.28) at FU2. Conclusion Low educational attainment and depression are the most significant risk factors associated with increased odds of future TBI, while depression, nicotine dependence and high aggression-hostility are the main consequences of previous TBI. TBI should be considered an underlying factor in the treatment of depression, SUD or unfavourable personality profiles.

30 March 2023 in ALPHA PSYCHIATRY
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
APAlexandru Pavel
Alexandru Pavel
RPRadu Paun
Radu Paun
VMValentin Petre Matei
Valentin Petre Matei
ARAlina Rosca
Alina Rosca
CTCatalina Tudose
Catalina Tudose
Quality of life,subjective cognitive decline,impairment

2 January 2023 in Psychiatry and Clinical Psychopharmacology
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
APAlexandru Pavel
Alexandru Pavel
VMValentin Petre Matei
Valentin Petre Matei
RPRadu Paun
Radu Paun
CTCatalina Tudose
Catalina Tudose
Subjective cognitive decline is presently considered to be the earliest clinical stage of neurodegeneration. By its current definition, subjective cognitive decline conceptually implies that the sufferer presents no psychometrically measurable cognitive impairment despite numerous articles stating the presence of discrete objective impairments. Our purpose was to evaluate differences in objective cognitive performance in subjective cognitive decline patients compared to healthy controls. A total of 101 cognitively unimpaired participants were divided into a subjective cognitive decline group (n = 67) and healthy control group (n = 34). We conducted a thorough cognitive evaluation and collected social, demographic, and clinical data as well as data on personality traits, sleep quality, and physical activity. Both groups were matched for sex, age, education, and Mini-Mental State Examination score. The subjective cognitive decline group had a lower verbal learning capacity as shown by the worse performance on Rey auditory verbal learning test trial 1 (P = .021) and Rey auditory verbal learning test total scores (P = .023). The subjective cognitive decline group was significantly more impaired in executive functioning compared to controls, as shown by trail making test A (P = .012) evaluation. Persons with subjective cognitive decline have subtle, objective cognitive impairments which may be undetected with widely used, brief cognitive evaluations, such as the Mini-Mental State Examination. Yet, these impairments are not severe enough to warrant the diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment. Current subjective cognitive decline criteria could be expanded in order to increase the diagnostic precision of subjective cognitive decline.

1 November 2020 in Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
VMValentin Matei
Valentin Matei
APAlexandru Pavel
Alexandru Pavel
AGAna Giurgiuca
Ana Giurgiuca
ARAlina Roșca
Alina Roșca
ASArina Sofia
Arina Sofia
CTCătălina Tudose
Cătălina Tudose
Purpose: Patients with severe mental illness (SMI) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are at higher risk for contracting coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) and for poor outcomes of COVID-19 infection. One reason for this could be the lack of knowledge regarding preventive measures against COVID-19 and the inability of the psychiatric patients to discern misinformation from facts. Patients and Methods: The study design was cross-sectional. We applied one questionnaire that evaluated knowledge of prevention measures and information about COVID-19 (comprised of two sections, each with five questions). The first section evaluated knowledge regarding the official WHO prevention measures against COVID-19, and the second consisted of false information about COVID-19 which examined the ability to identify misinformation about COVID-19. These questionnaires were applied face-to-face to psychiatric male inpatients from a tertiary psychiatric hospital in Bucharest diagnosed with SMI or severe alcohol disorder (SAUD) and to male controls from the community, matched by age and education. Mean scores of patients and controls were compared using Mann–Whitney test. Results: There were 115 male psychiatric patients in total (65 SMI and 50 SAUD) and 57 controls included after the matching procedure. We found statistically significant lower (P< 0.05) scores for psychiatric patients compared to controls regarding the prevention and general knowledge of COVID-19 (P< 0.001), the WHO information about prevention measures (P=0.041), and the ability to identify misinformation about COVID-19 (P< 0.001). The fact that psychiatric patients have less knowledge about prevention measures against COVID-19 and a reduced capacity to discern misinformation suggests that we need to identify new methods to convey correct information to these patients and also to better equip them to handle misinformation regarding COVID-19. Conclusion: Patients with SMI and SAUD are less informed regarding COVID-19 infection and preventive measures compared to controls, while being prone to believing false information about COVID-19 as well.

1 March 2021 in European Neuropsychopharmacology
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
APAlexandru Pavel
Alexandru Pavel
RPR. Paun
R. Paun
VMValentin Petre Matei
Valentin Petre Matei

8 September 2024 in Psychiatry, Psychology and Law
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
RPRadu-Mihai Păun
Radu-Mihai Păun
APAlexandru Pavel
Alexandru Pavel
VMValentin Petre Matei
Valentin Petre Matei
CTCătălina Tudose
Cătălina Tudose
The MacArthur Admission Experience Survey was developed to evaluate perceived coercion in psychiatric inpatients and comprises of three subscales: “Perceived coercion”, “Negative pressures” and “Voice”. The present study aims to evaluate the psychometric properties of a Romanian language version of the AES (R-AES) and to identify predictors for higher perceived coercion. We developed the R-AES using a translation/back-translation procedure and administered it to 137 patients admitted to the “Profesor Doctor Alexandru Obregia” psychiatric hospital in Bucharest, Romania. Discriminatory power was evaluated by comparing the scores of voluntarily and involuntarily admitted patients. The R-AES showed satisfactory internal consistency (Crohnbach’s alpha = 0.92). Principal components analysis disclosed a three-factor solution explaining 69.1% of variance. Factor components roughly corresponded to the original subscales. Higher scores were associated with involuntary admission, objective coercive measures, younger age, frequent past hospitalisations, treatment non-compliance, psychosis, mania, greater disease severity, aggression, and presentation by police or ambulance.