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Introduction. Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is frequent and has a great impact on quality of life. Its prevalence in the general population and in primary care has been established previously in Spain; however it still must be determined in the mental health. Methods. An epidemiological, multicenter and cross-sectional study was carried out, collecting demographic data, reason for consultation and presence of GAD diagnosis according to ICD-10 criteria of their first 75 visiting patients on a randomly selected representative sample of 312 psychiatrists. Results. Data from 20,347 subjects was recorded. Clinic prevalence of GAD was 13.7% (95% confidence interval: 13.3-14.2). The most frequent reason for psychiatric consultation was depressive symptoms (26.7%) followed by symptoms of anxiety (18.2%). In 71.4% of GAD patients, the reason for consultation was anxiety symptoms. Conclusions. GAD clinic prevalence in Spain is high. Almost one out of three GAD-patients visits the psychiatrist office for a reason other than this condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. The aim was to validate the Spanish version of the screening scale for DSM-IV General Anxiety Disorder of Carroll and Davidson for use in research and clinical practice in Spain for screening and assessing specific anxiety symptoms of patients with Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD). Methods. Observational, prospective, multisite, study comparing between patients with DSM-IV diagnosis of GAD (group A), starting or switching treatment (group A1) or stable patients (group A2), followed-up for 6 months (group A1) or 2 weeks (group A2) versus healthy control subjects (group B), assessed in a single visit. Results. Among 223 valuable subjects the scale showed: a) adequate feasibility with a mean time of administration: 6,53 and 4,49 min (TD: 5.48 and 3.56) in groups A and B, and percentage of patients without response <5 %; b) adequate reliability (Kuder-Richardson coefficient: 0.85 and 0.79 in groups A1 and A2, and CCI coefficient: 0.89 in group A2); c) adequate validity, showing capability for discriminating between patients and controls, with area under curve AUC: 0.9713 (IC 95 %: 0.9510-0.9917), and obtaining a high correlation with HARS (r=0.88) and CGI-G (r=0.87) scales, y d) adequate sensitivity to clinical changes from start and end of treatment (SES: -1.6, -3.1 and -3.8 after 1, 3 and 6 months), spite of the high percentage of patients with highest score in group A1 (38.6 %). Conclusion. The Spanish version of the screening scale for DSM-IV GAD showed adequate psychometric properties for use in research and clinical practice in Spain as well as an screening as evaluative measure for patients with GAD, spite of the ceiling effect showed in severe patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

El artículo se enfoca en la eficacia y la seguridad de la droga Bupropión (BUP) en el tratamiento de la depresión. Se discuten de la eficacia y la efectividad de BUP y la opinión experto a través del contexto clínico, con el fin de colaborar con los médicos para ayudarles sobre el papel que juega el BUP en el tratamiento de la depresión. Se proveen la información sobre sus características químicas y farmacológicas, incluyendo su estructura química y su neurofarmacología.

Introduction. We conduct an exploratory factor analysis with the Scale of Prodromal Symptoms (SOPS) items, to determine its psychometric characteristics and construct validity, as well as we analyze criterion or predictive validity of its clinical subscales in the conversion of high mental risk subjects from prodrome to psychosis in a 1 year follow-up period. Method. The subjects were 30 patients referred for evaluation with the Structured Interview of Prodromal Syndromes (SIPS), which includes the SOPS, because of a suspected psychosis prodromal syndrome, a factor analysis with varimax rotation was carried out: Cronbach internal coherence indices were obtained, and predictive validity of the subscales comprising this instrument were analyzed using logistic regression. Results. Three first-order factors were found, one of them was a homogeneous component made up of negative symptoms, consistent with previous studies, and higher scores were observed in negative, disorganized and general symptoms in males. Cronbach's alpha indices were 0.880, in the recruitment phase of risk patients, and 0.952 one year later. With an incidence rate of psychosis of 26.67 % in the sample studied, during the 1 year follow-up period, an excellent positive predictive value of the SOPS subscales was found, with negative symptoms having the best specificity (95.5 %) and sensitivity (100 %) indices. Conclusions. Diagnostic criteria based on the SIPS/ SOPS make it possible to identify persons at high risk of psychosis, and to make an accurate prediction of medium term psychotic episodes. It is a valid, economical and easy to use instrument in primary health care systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]