Disorders In Chile Research Articles

Síndromes linfoproliferativos crónicos en Chile: Estudio prospectivo de 132 casos

Chronic lymphoproliferative disorders include a variety of diseases which are often a diagnostic problem for clinical hematologists. To study prospectively the distribution and incidence of chronic lymphoproliferative disorders in Chile and compare them with those of other Western, Latin American and Oriental countries. A group of 132 patients were studied in a 36 months period (1999-2001), with a panel of monoclonal antibodies. A score for chronic lymphocytic leukemia was employed to differentiate it from other B-cell disorders. The median age was 63 years old (range 32-94). Most patients had B-cell tumors (109) and the rest (23), T-cell tumors (82% vs 18%). Forty five percent of patients with B-cell tumors had a chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), while the others were disseminated lymphomas. The incidence of T-cell tumors was slightly higher than that of other Western countries. Noteworthy is that the most common of these disorders was adult T cell leukemia/lymphoma (ATLL), in concordance with the high HTLV-1 seroprevalence in Chile. A morphologic, immunophenotypic and pathological study in a large number of patients with chronic lymphoproliferative disorders in Chile, shows a relatively low incidence of CLL when compared to other chronic B-cell tumors and a high representation of ATLL associated to HTLV-1 infection, compared with other Western countries. The lower incidence of CLL in our study might be due to patient's selection and/or underdiagnosis of this disease as a substantial proportion of CLL are asymptomatic.

Common mental disorders in Santiago, Chile: prevalence and socio-demographic correlates.

There have been relatively few surveys in Latin America that have attempted to estimate the prevalence of psychiatric morbidity in private households. To determine the prevalence of common mental disorders and socio-demographic correlates among adults from Santiago, Chile. Cross-sectional survey of private households with a probabilistic sampling design was used. Common mental disorders were measured using the Clinical Interview Schedule-Revised (CIS-R). Three thousand eight hundred and seventy adults were interviewed. Twenty-five per cent were CIS-R cases and 13% met criteria for an ICD-10 diagnosis. Low education, female gender, unemployment, separation, low social status and lone parenthood were associated with a higher prevalence. Prevalence rates were higher than those found in urban areas of Great Britain, both for ICD-10 diagnoses and 'non-specific neurotic disorders'. Similar socio-demographic factors were associated with an increased prevalence of common mental disorders in Chile as in the UK. There is a need to unify methodologies to be able to compare results internationally.

Comparación psicométrica transcultural de la depresión mayor entre Chile y Alemania

Depressive symptoms and personality features of patients with mood disorders are supposed to have a strong variability in cross cultural studies. The clinical profile, the outcome and the treatment response seem to be different across the world. To investigate the differences and similarities of major depressive disorders in Chile and Germany. Sixty seven Chilean and German depressive inpatients, without comorbidity on axis I or II were studied. Diagnosis of depression was based on DSM IV and ICD 10 criteria for major depression. Symptomatology was assessed using the self reporting questionnaire (SRQ-20), the Symptom checklist-90-revisited (SCL 90-R), the Beck inventory for Depression (BDI), and the Hamilton scale for depression (HAM-D). Personality was assessed with the Munich Personality Scale. Only the SRQ-20 shows significantly higher tendency towards depression among Chilean patients. At the personality level, Chileans exhibited higher scores in extroversion, neuroticism, esoteric and isolating tendencies. These results help to understand differences and similarities between depressive syndromes across cultures. They suggest that the relation between symptomatology, some personality traits and severe major depression has little variability across cultures.