As the world population ages, the number of older adults living with Alzheimer disease (AD) is estimated to increase from the current 26.6 million to 106.2 million by 2050.¹ If illness onset could be delayed by 12 months, 9.2 million fewer cases of AD would occur worldwide.¹ For this reason, attempts have been made to identify individuals who are at increased risk of AD and to test interventions that might delay the progression of prodromal symptoms to full-blown dementia. The results from observational studies suggest that older people who are free of dementia but report memory decline or show objective evidence of cognitive impairment are more likely to develop AD over time.^2,3

Depressão é problema de saúde frequente entre idosos, embora a identificação desses pacientes seja muitas vezes difícil na prática clínica. Nesse sentido, a avaliação sistemática dos indivíduos nessa faixa etária pode contribuir para melhorar a detecção dos casos de depressão. Este estudo foi desenhado com o objetivo de avaliar a confiabilidade de teste-reteste das versões com 15, 10, 4, e 1 itens da Escala de Depressão em Geriatria (GDS). Foram selecionados 64 indivíduos com 60 ou mais anos de idade atendidos de forma consecutiva nos ambulatórios da Unidade de Idosos do Departamento de Saúde Mental da Santa Casa de São Paulo entre fevereiro e maio de 1998. Todos preenchiam critérios para o diagnóstico de transtorno depressivo (em remissão ou atual) de acordo com a CID-10 e apresentavam escores maiores do que 10 no Mini-Exame do Estado Mental. Eles foram avaliados duas vezes com a GDS-15, sendo as entrevistas conduzidas com intervalo de 48 a 72 horas. Cinquenta e um pacientes aceitaram participar do estudo. A concordância entre os escores de itens individuais da escala foi avaliada pelo coeficiente estatístico Kappa. Estes oscilaram entre 0,04 e 0,49, indicando baixa estabilidade na resposta dos pacientes. Os escores totais da GDS-15 mantiveram-se relativamente estáveis durante o reteste, conforme indicado pelo teste pareado de Wilcoxon (z=1,60; p=0,109), correlação de Spearman (rho=0,86; p<0,001), e Kappa ponderado (Kappa=0,64). O mesmo padrão foi observado para a GDS-10 no teste de Wilcoxon (z=0,85; p=0,402), Spearman (rho=0,81; p<0,001), e Kappa ponderado (Kappa=0,60). O escore total da GDS-4 mostrou variações significativas do teste para o reteste (z=3,75; p<0,001; rho=0,56; p<0,001; Kappa=0,37). Esses resultados indicam que as versões com 1 e 4 ítens apresentam baixos coeficientes de confiabilidade. Isso sugere que essas versões têm utilidade clínica limitada. Por outro lado, a GDS com 15 e 10 iítens pode ser utilizada com relativa confiabilidade na prática clínica, particularmente quando se consideram os escores totais das escalas.

Objective To use the rs1229984 variant in the alcohol dehydrogenase 1B gene (ADH1B) as an instrument to investigate the causal role of alcohol in cardiovascular disease. Design Mendelian randomisation meta-analysis of 56 epidemiological studies. Participants 261 991 individuals of European descent, including 20 259 coronary heart disease cases and 10 164 stroke events. Data were available on ADH1B rs1229984 variant, alcohol phenotypes, and cardiovascular biomarkers. Main outcome measures Odds ratio for coronary heart disease and stroke associated with the ADH1B variant in all individuals and by categories of alcohol consumption. Results Carriers of the A-allele of ADH1B rs1229984 consumed 17.2% fewer units of alcohol per week (95% confidence interval 15.6% to 18.9%), had a lower prevalence of binge drinking (odds ratio 0.78 (95% CI 0.73 to 0.84)), and had higher abstention (odds ratio 1.27 (1.21 to 1.34)) than non-carriers. Rs1229984 A-allele carriers had lower systolic blood pressure (−0.88 (−1.19 to −0.56) mm Hg), interleukin-6 levels (−5.2% (−7.8 to −2.4%)), waist circumference (−0.3 (−0.6 to −0.1) cm), and body mass index (−0.17 (−0.24 to −0.10) kg/m²). Rs1229984 A-allele carriers had lower odds of coronary heart disease (odds ratio 0.90 (0.84 to 0.96)). The protective association of the ADH1B rs1229984 A-allele variant remained the same across all categories of alcohol consumption (P=0.83 for heterogeneity). Although no association of rs1229984 was identified with the combined subtypes of stroke, carriers of the A-allele had lower odds of ischaemic stroke (odds ratio 0.83 (0.72 to 0.95)). Conclusions Individuals with a genetic variant associated with non-drinking and lower alcohol consumption had a more favourable cardiovascular profile and a reduced risk of coronary heart disease than those without the genetic variant. This suggests that reduction of alcohol consumption, even for light to moderate drinkers, is beneficial for cardiovascular health.

DEPRESSIVE symptoms are common during the transition to menopause.%^1-3 Cross-sectional surveys describe high rates of depressive symptoms among women treated in menopause clinics.%^4,5 We recently reported depressive disorders (major depressive disorder [MDD], dysthymic disorder, and minor depressive disorder) in 30 of 101 endocrinologically confirmed perimenopausal women attending a gynecological clinic.%^6,7 Unlike clinic-based surveys, community-based studies found that perimenopause may be a period of risk for mood disturbance for some women but does not necessarily represent a time of risk for major depression.%^8-10

An assessment schedule was used to determine the nature of insight in 91 mixed psychotic patients, and to examine its distribution and associations. While all the components of the schedule intercorrelated significantly, scores for compliance were only weakly related to those for ability to label psychotic phenomena as abnormal. Compliance and illness recognition were related to IQ. Total insight score was inversely correlated, moderately, with a global measure of psychopathology derived from the PSE, and was less in patients involuntarily committed. Age, sex, diagnosis, and the number of previous hospital admissions had little effect. The results support the notion that insight is not a unitary concept.