The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of depressive symptoms and associated variables among people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in a specialized treatment center in a city located in southern Brazil. A cross-sectional study was conducted using the Beck Depression Inventory to assess the presence of depressive symptoms. The prevalence of depressive symptoms was 53.5% among the surveyed population, which supports the idea that depressive symptoms are more common among PLWHA, mainly if compared with the general population. It was observed that 57.7% of the study participants were with depressive symptoms and did not take any psychiatric medication and 100% did not undergo psychotherapy, which indicates undertreatment. There was no statistically significant difference in the mean CD4 count between patients with depressive symptoms (484.1  ±  353) and patients without depressive symptoms (528.4  ±  263). Further actions should be taken to improve the care for PLWHA. The interface between psychology, psychiatry, and internal medicine is of utmost importance to provide a more humanized care, in which the psychosocial, psychological, and psychiatric aspects are not neglected.

CHA demonstrated little knowledge on HPV, which may affect their work as multipliers in the prevention of diseases and in education in health.

Abstract

The objective of this study was to conduct the initial stages of the cross-cultural adaptation to Brazilian Portuguese of a scale to measure the level of knowledge about HPV. The stages included: translation from English into the Portuguese spoken in Brazil; synthesis of the translated version; back-translation; analysis by an expert committee; and reliability analysis based on internal consistency and reproducibility. Cronbach's α coefficient for the instrument was 0.985. Subset analysis produced only minor variations. The correlation coefficients between the individual items and the overall result showed strong positive correlations, except for three items. Reproducibility analysis showed kappa values with substantial or moderate agreement for the majority of the items. A preliminary Brazilian version was obtained with satisfactory results, but other stages are necessary in the process of validation of the Brazilian version.

No abstract

Este artigo está licenciado sob forma de uma licença Creative Commons Atribuição 4.0 Internacional, que permite uso irrestrito, distribuição e reprodução em qualquer meio, desde que a publicação original seja corretamente citada. ABSTRACT Aims:To evaluate the prevalence and the profile of inpatients prescribed antipsychotics.Methods: This was a cross-sectional study which evaluated patients admitted to Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição (HNSC), in Tubarão, State of Santa Catarina, Brazil, in 2013, who were prescribed antipsychotic drugs. All the data were collected from electronic medical records. Patients were evaluated according to their sociodemographic characteristics, type of antipsychotic drug prescribed, and clinical diagnosis (ICD 10). Results: Out of 125,670 patients admitted to HNSC in 2013, 1,559 received some kind of antipsychotic. The mean age of the patients was 50.34 years (SD=22.89). There was no variation in the prevalence of antipsychotic drug prescription between male and female patients, but the frequency of these prescriptions increased with age. Conventional antipsychotics were the most commonly prescribed ones, among which haloperidol was prescribed to 852 (54.7%) patients. Among the major diagnoses, anxiety disorders were the most prevalent ones, detected in 131 (6.3%) patients. Considering only the diagnoses of mental or behavioral disorders and including secondary diagnoses, anxiety disorders were observed in 233 (14.9%) patients. A total of 470 (30.1%) patients on antipsychotics had been diagnosed at least once with mental or behavioral disorders. Conclusions:The prevalence of antipsychotic drug use was 1.24% among the inpatients, and haloperidol was the most widely prescribed drug. The diagnosis of anxiety disorders was the most frequent one, but most patients who received antipsychotics had not been diagnosed with any psychiatric disorder, and eventually received them for other reasons.

Este artigo está licenciado sob forma de uma licença Creative Commons Atribuição 4.0 Internacional, que permite uso irrestrito, distribuição e reprodução em qualquer meio, desde que a publicação original seja corretamente citada. ABSTRACT Aims:To evaluate the prevalence of hyperglycemia and associated factors in the elderly population of a municipality in southern Brazil. Methods: Cross-sectional population-based study, carried out with the elderly (≥60 years) living in the city of Tubarão, state of Santa Catarina, Brazil, from September 2010 to May 2011. Participants were selected by simple random sampling. The elderly were registered by the Community Health Agents of the Family's Health Strategy Program. Sociodemographic data (age, gender, skin color, marital status, employment status and education), behavioral data (physical activity, alcohol use and smoking) and clinical data (obesity, drug use and family history of diabetes) were recorded. After answering these questions the participants were scheduled to attend the clinic for blood collection and anthropometric measurements. The prevalence of hyperglycemia was assessed from fasting blood glucose tests, and individuals with values ≥126 mg/dL or use of hypoglycemic drugs were considered hyperglycemic. To assess the association between the variables of interest, the chi-square test was applied. The pre-determined confidence interval was of 95% and the error α of 5%. Results: Eight hundred thirty-three elderly patients were included, and 220 were considered hyperglycemic according to the methodology criteria (prevalence of 26.4%). Of the patients included in the hyperglycemia group, 190 were using oral hypoglycemic drugs, and of these, 112 had also fasting glucose ≥126 mg/dL, while in 78 fasting glucose was <126 mg/dL. Also in the hyperglycemia group, 30 patients had fasting glucose ≥126 mg/dL and were not on hypoglycemic treatment. Having parents diagnosed with diabetes and being obese were associated with the presence of hyperglycemia. Conclusions:This study suggests that a large portion of the elderly population has fasting hyperglycemia, requiring a wider evaluation for diabetes mellitus.

ABSTRACT: Objective: To verify the internal construct validity of the Brazilian Portuguese version of a tool for measuring the general population’s knowledge of human papillomavirus (HPV). Materials and methods: A cross-culturally adapted Brazilian Portuguese version of a measurement tool originally designed for English speaking populations was administered to 330 adults in Tubarão, Santa Catarina, Southern Brazil. After examining the overall suitability of the method, we performed investigations based on the item response theory and exploratory factor analysis. Results: Ten of the 29 items presented a low contribution to the construct and were excluded from subsequent analysis. The factor analysis yielded three factors, which explained approximately 51% of the variance variability. A different arrangement from the original measurement tool was found: general HPV knowledge, with six items; HPV vaccination knowledge, with five items; HPV transmission and testing knowledge, with eight items. Conclusion: The Brazilian Portuguese version under study presented a different behavior from the original measurement tool, but proved to be a reliable and valid instrument in assessing the Brazilian population’s knowledge about HPV.