Chagas disease as a mechanistic model for testing a novel hypothesis

Mosovich, Serge; Mady, Charles; Lopes, Neuza; Ianni, Bárbara Maria; Dias, João Carlos Pinto; Correia, Dalmo; Farkouh, Michael E.

doi:10.1590/s0037-86822008000100013

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Besides facing considerable disruption to their psychological well-being, individuals suffering from these disorders are also at considerably greater risk for additional conditions as heart disease and obesity ( Sheps & Sheffield 2001 , Rumsfeld & Ho 2005 ). Depression and other behavioural alterations have been proposed as secondary consequences of the chronic inflammatory chagasic cardiomyopathy ( Mosovich et al 2008 ). Indeed, chronically Colombian-infected C57BL/6 mice also present electrical and functional heart alterations ( Silverio et al 2012 , Pereira et al 2014a , b , 2015 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural alterations are independent of sickness behaviour in chronic experimental Chagas disease

Vilar-Pereira

Ruivo

Lannes‐Vieira

2015

Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz

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The existence of the nervous form of Chagas disease is a matter of discussion since Carlos Chagas described neurological disorders, learning and behavioural alterations in Trypanosoma cruzi-infected individuals. In most patients, the clinical manifestations of the acute phase, including neurological abnormalities, resolve spontaneously without apparent consequence in the chronic phase of infection. However, chronic Chagas disease patients have behavioural changes such as psychomotor alterations, attention and memory deficits, and depression. In the present study, we tested whether or not behavioural alterations are reproducible in experimental models. We show that C57BL/6 mice chronically infected with the Colombian strain of T. cruzi (150 days post-infection) exhibit behavioural changes as (i) depression in the tail suspension and forced swim tests, (ii) anxiety analysed by elevated plus maze and open field test sand and (iii) motor coordination in the rotarod test. These alterations are neither associated with neuromuscular disorders assessed by the grip strength test nor with sickness behaviour analysed by temperature variation sand weight loss. Therefore, chronically T. cruzi-infected mice replicate behavioural alterations (depression and anxiety) detected in Chagas disease patients opening an opportunity to study the interconnection and the physiopathology of these two biological processes in an infectious scenario.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Behavioural alterations are independent of sickness behaviour in chronic experimental Chagas disease

Vilar-Pereira

Ruivo

Lannes‐Vieira

2015

Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz

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“…Some papers deal with specific conditions, such as those of pacemaker users, heart failure, or pre-and posttreatment evaluations, and do not describe the profile of QoL in ChD patients. Furthermore, some authors suggest that the putative relation between ChD and depression deserves to be elucidated 37 .…”

Section: Health-related Quality Of Life Of Chagas Diseasementioning

confidence: 99%

Health-related quality of life in patients with Chagas disease

Oliveira

Abreu

et al. 2011

Rev. Soc. Bras. Med. Trop.

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INTRODUCTION: Chagas disease (ChD) is a chronic illness related to significant morbidity and mortality that can affect the quality of life (QoL) of infected patients. However, there are few studies regarding QoL in ChD. The objectives of this study are to construct a health-related QoL (HRQoL) profile of ChD patients and compare this with a non-ChD (NChD) group to identify factors associated with the worst HRQoL scores in ChD patients. METHODS: HRQoL was investigated in 125 patients with ChD and 21 NChD individuals using the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form (SF-36) and the Minnesota Living with Heart Failure Questionnaire (MLWHFQ). Patients were submitted to a standard protocol that included clinical examination, ECG, Holter monitoring, Doppler echocardiogram and autonomic function tests. RESULTS: HRQoL scores were significantly worse among the ChD group compared to the NChD group in the SF-36 domains of physical functioning and role-emotional and in the MLWHFQ scale. For the ChD group, univariate analysis showed that HRQoL score quartiles were associated with level of education, sex, marital status, use of medication, functional classification and cardiovascular and gastrointestinal symptoms. In the multivariate analysis, female sex, fewer years of education, single status, worst functional classification, presence of cardiovascular and gastrointestinal symptoms, associated illnesses, Doppler echocardiographic abnormalities and ventricular arrhythmia detected during Holter monitoring were predictors of lower HRQoL scores. CONCLUSIONS: ChD patients showed worse HRQoL scores compared to NChD. For the ChD group, sociodemographic and clinical variables were associated with worst scores.

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“…Reports in the literature indicate that HRQoL is worse for patients with Chagas disease (15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22)(23)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)23) . No HRQoL study was found that specifically focused on patients with ChA.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Impaired Quality of Life in Chagas Acalasia Patients and Associated Clinical Factors

Rosa-e-Silva

Pontes

VENDRAME

et al. 2022

Arq. Gastroenterol.

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Background: No study has focused on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) for Chagas Achalasia patients. Objective: To compare HRQoL between Chagas Achalasia patients and the general population; and to correlate HRQoL with clinical factors that can affect it. Methods: Sixty Chagas Achalasia patients and 50 controls were evaluated. All patients underwent esophageal manometry for the diagnosis of achalasia and esophagogram to determine the grade of megaesophagus. Three questionnaires were used: 1) clinical: the following data were collected: demographic, medical history, body mass index, occurrence of six esophageal symptoms (Esophageal Symptom Score: number of symptoms reported by patients), duration of dysphagia; 2) socio-economic-cultural status evaluation: patients and controls answered seven questions about their socio-economic-cultural conditions; 3) HRQoL: the validated Brazilian-Portuguese version of the Short-form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire (license QM020039) was used. It measures health in eight domains: 3a) four physical: physical functioning, role limitations relating to physical health, bodily pain, and general health perception; 3b) four mental: vitality, social functioning, role limitations relating to emotional health, and mental health. These domains can be summarized into Physical and Mental Summary scores. We analyzed correlations between SF-36 Physical/Mental Summary Component scores and the following clinical factors: Esophageal Symptom Score, duration of dysphagia, body mass index, grades of megaesophagus (defined by the esophagogram) and presence/absence of megacolon (defined by opaque enema). Results: Patients and controls had similar age, gender, medical history, and socio-economic-cultural lifestyles (P>0.05). All patients had dysphagia and megaesophagus. SF-36 scores were significantly lower in Chagas Achalasia patients than controls for all eight domains (physicals: P<0.002; mentals: P<0.0027). The Physical and Mental Summary Component scores were also lower in Chagas Achalasia patients than controls (P<0.0062). For patients, the Physical Summary score was negatively correlated to Esophageal Symptom Score (P=0.0011) and positively correlated to body mass index (P=0.02). No other correlations were found. Conclusion: Chagas Achalasia patients have an impaired HRQoL in all physical and mental domains. Patients reporting more symptoms had worse physical domains. Patients with higher body mass index had better physical domains.

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Chagas disease as a mechanistic model for testing a novel hypothesis

Cited by 8 publications

References 32 publications

Behavioural alterations are independent of sickness behaviour in chronic experimental Chagas disease

Behavioural alterations are independent of sickness behaviour in chronic experimental Chagas disease

Health-related quality of life in patients with Chagas disease

Impaired Quality of Life in Chagas Acalasia Patients and Associated Clinical Factors

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