Disease Control in Patients with Asthma is Associated with Alexithymia but not with Depression or Anxiety

Amore, Mario; Antonucci, Camilla; Bettini, Elena; Boracchia, Luca; Innamorati, Marco; Montali, Arianna; Parisoli, Chiara; Pisi, Roberta; Ramponi, Sara; Chetta, Alfredo

doi:10.1080/08964289.2013.818931

Cited by 13 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 58 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For instance, a low perception of symptoms or alexithymia (a difficulty in expressing psychological symptoms) might influence the expression of a need for psychosocial care (27). In Asthma literature, a relationship between alexithymia and the perception of symptoms is reported, as well as a relationship between alexithymia and coping styles (28) In this study, more than half of the patients with a need for psychosocial care were already receiving such treatment. Apparently, those patients find ways to meet psychosocial care needs within the Dutch healthcare system.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Identifying Patients with COPD in Need for Psychosocial Care Through Screening with the HSCL-25 and the CCQ Mental State

Maters

Pool

Sanderman

et al. 2017

COPD: Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

High levels of psychological distress are documented in patients with COPD. This study investigates the extent to which patients with a high score on the Hopkins Symptoms Checklist-25 (HSCL-25) or with a high score on the Mental State scale of the Clinical COPD Questionnaire (CCQ) endorse a need for psychosocial care, and investigates several characteristics of patients with a need. Outpatients with COPD of the Department of Pulmonary Diseases of a University Medical Center were assessed with the HSCL-25, CCQ and a question on need for psychosocial care. For patients indicating a need, the percentage of patients with HSCL-25 ≥39 was compared with the percentage of patients with CCQ Mental State >2 and tested with a Chi-square. In total 323 patients participated; 57% of them were distressed according to the HSCL-25 (≥39) and 20% according to the CCQ Mental State (>2); 28% reported a need for psychosocial care. For patients reporting a need for psychosocial care a higher percentage was identified by the HSCL-25 than by the CCQ Mental State (χ = 9.41, p <. 002) and they were younger than patients without a need (t = 4.48, p <. 001). No differences existed for sex, FEV FEV% predicted or medical comorbidities. The HSCL-25 identified more patients in need than the CCQ Mental State scale. However, not all patients with a need were identified. No relationship was found between need for psychosocial care and illness variables or comorbidities. Distress screening is questioned as the most effective way to identity patients with COPD in need for psychosocial care.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 66%

Identifying Patients with COPD in Need for Psychosocial Care Through Screening with the HSCL-25 and the CCQ Mental State

Maters

Pool

Sanderman

et al. 2017

COPD: Journal of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Three (5%) studies considered collinearity via pairwise correlations, although the exact criteria for selection features based on this were unclear [36][37][38]. In addition, 3 (5%) studies avoided multicollinearity, but none detailed their methods for doing so [39][40][41].…”

Section: Feature Selectionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges of Clustering Multimodal Clinical Data: Review of Applications in Asthma Subtyping

Horne¹,

Tibble²,

Sheikh³

et al. 2020

JMIR Med Inform

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background In the current era of personalized medicine, there is increasing interest in understanding the heterogeneity in disease populations. Cluster analysis is a method commonly used to identify subtypes in heterogeneous disease populations. The clinical data used in such applications are typically multimodal, which can make the application of traditional cluster analysis methods challenging. Objective This study aimed to review the research literature on the application of clustering multimodal clinical data to identify asthma subtypes. We assessed common problems and shortcomings in the application of cluster analysis methods in determining asthma subtypes, such that they can be brought to the attention of the research community and avoided in future studies. Methods We searched PubMed and Scopus bibliographic databases with terms related to cluster analysis and asthma to identify studies that applied dissimilarity-based cluster analysis methods. We recorded the analytic methods used in each study at each step of the cluster analysis process. Results Our literature search identified 63 studies that applied cluster analysis to multimodal clinical data to identify asthma subtypes. The features fed into the cluster algorithms were of a mixed type in 47 (75%) studies and continuous in 12 (19%), and the feature type was unclear in the remaining 4 (6%) studies. A total of 23 (37%) studies used hierarchical clustering with Ward linkage, and 22 (35%) studies used k-means clustering. Of these 45 studies, 39 had mixed-type features, but only 5 specified dissimilarity measures that could handle mixed-type features. A further 9 (14%) studies used a preclustering step to create small clusters to feed on a hierarchical method. The original sample sizes in these 9 studies ranged from 84 to 349. The remaining studies used hierarchical clustering with other linkages (n=3), medoid-based methods (n=3), spectral clustering (n=1), and multiple kernel k-means clustering (n=1), and in 1 study, the methods were unclear. Of 63 studies, 54 (86%) explained the methods used to determine the number of clusters, 24 (38%) studies tested the quality of their cluster solution, and 11 (17%) studies tested the stability of their solution. Reporting of the cluster analysis was generally poor in terms of the methods employed and their justification. Conclusions This review highlights common issues in the application of cluster analysis to multimodal clinical data to identify asthma subtypes. Some of these issues were related to the multimodal nature of the data, but many were more general issues in the application of cluster analysis. Although cluster analysis may be a useful tool for investigating disease subtypes, we recommend that future studies carefully consider the implications of clustering multimodal data, the cluster analysis process itself, and the reporting of methods to facilitate replication and interpretation of findings.

show abstract

“…Alexithymia has been associated with maladaptive coping strategies (Amore et al, 2013, Besharat, 2010, Parker, Taylor, & Bagby, 1998. This could result in elevated levels of psychological distress contributing to physical and mental health problems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Alexithymia and fertility-related stress

Gourounti

Anagnostopoulos

Griva³

et al. 2015

Women & Health

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The investigation of the relationship between alexithymia, the inability to identify and describe feelings and the absence of fantasies, and fertility-related distress is a relatively neglected area of research. The aims of this study were to examine: (1) the prevalence of alexithymia in a sample of infertile women, and (2) the association between alexithymia, coping strategies, and fertility-related stress. This study included 160 infertile women undergoing in vitro fertilization in a public fertility clinic from September of 2013 to December of 2013. Self-report instruments were used to measure alexithymia (Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20), coping (COPE), and fertility-related stress (Fertility Problem Inventory). Bivariate and multiple linear regression were used. A high alexithymia score was positively associated with age, infertility duration, and low educational and economic level. Multivariate analyses showed that, controlling for demographic factors, high avoidance coping, low problem-appraisal coping, and high alexithymia were positively associated with fertility-related stress (β = 0.309, p < .001, β = -0.203, p = .006, β = 0.151, p = .050, respectively). Results of this study indicated that alexithymia during fertility treatment was associated with maladaptive coping strategies and psychological stress. In addition, the association between alexithymia and duration of infertility may be interpreted as secondary alexithymia acts as a coping strategy in infertile women.

show abstract

Disease Control in Patients with Asthma is Associated with Alexithymia but not with Depression or Anxiety

Cited by 13 publications

References 58 publications

Identifying Patients with COPD in Need for Psychosocial Care Through Screening with the HSCL-25 and the CCQ Mental State

Identifying Patients with COPD in Need for Psychosocial Care Through Screening with the HSCL-25 and the CCQ Mental State

Challenges of Clustering Multimodal Clinical Data: Review of Applications in Asthma Subtyping

Alexithymia and fertility-related stress

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About