Ecological analysis in general medicine

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jose Luis Turabian
2013 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert J. Barth

Abstract Scientific findings have indicated that psychological and social factors are the driving forces behind most chronic benign pain presentations, especially in a claim context, and are relevant to at least three of the AMA Guides publications: AMA Guides to Evaluation of Disease and Injury Causation, AMA Guides to Work Ability and Return to Work, and AMA Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. The author reviews and summarizes studies that have identified the dominant role of financial, psychological, and other non–general medicine factors in patients who report low back pain. For example, one meta-analysis found that compensation results in an increase in pain perception and a reduction in the ability to benefit from medical and psychological treatment. Other studies have found a correlation between the level of compensation and health outcomes (greater compensation is associated with worse outcomes), and legal systems that discourage compensation for pain produce better health outcomes. One study found that, among persons with carpal tunnel syndrome, claimants had worse outcomes than nonclaimants despite receiving more treatment; another examined the problematic relationship between complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) and compensation and found that cases of CRPS are dominated by legal claims, a disparity that highlights the dominant role of compensation. Workers’ compensation claimants are almost never evaluated for personality disorders or mental illness. The article concludes with recommendations that evaluators can consider in individual cases.


2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (09) ◽  
pp. 747-750
Author(s):  
R. W. Freudenmann ◽  
C. Schönfeldt-Lecuona ◽  
B. J. Connemann ◽  
M. Gahr ◽  
M. Elsayed

SummaryThis narrative review summarizes current available information about cardiac arrhythmias (QT prolongation, Torsade de pointes Tachycardia [TdP], sudden cardiac death) associated with psychiatric medication. Among the most commonly used antipsychotics, amisulpride and ziprasidone are most frequently associated with TdP. Treatment with some antidepressants (SSRIs, tricyclic antidepressants) is associated with a 5- to 6-fold increase in the incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. Lithium is associated with bradycardia, T-wave changes and AV-block; anxiolytics of the benzodiazepine group do usually not have cardiac side effects. The combination of multiple drugs (including medications from general medicine) that prolong the QT interval has a particularly high cardiac risk.


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