Perceived efficacy among patients of
Perceived efficacy among patients of various methods of complementary alternative medicine for rheumatologic diseases.
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Perceived efficacy among patients of various methods of complementary alternative medicine for rheumatologic diseases.
Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2005 Sep-Oct;23(5):693-6
Authors: Breuer GS, Orbach H, Elkayam O, Berkun Y, Paran D, Mates M, Nesher G
OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this cross-sectional survey was to obtain and analyze data on self-perceived efficacy of different types of complementary alternative medicine (CAM) by patients with various rheumatologic conditions. METHODS: Patients followed in rheumatology outpatient clinics were screened for the use of CAM. Patients reporting the use of CAM were asked to participate in face-to-face structured interviews, specifying the various CAM types they used, and grading their subjective impression of efficacy of each CAM type on a scale of 1-10. RESULTS: 350 consecutive patients were screened and 148 reported using CAM. In general, homeopathy and acupuncture were the most commonly used CAM types (44% and 41% of the CAM users, respectively). The mean number of different CAM methods used by a CAM user was 1.9 +/- 1.1. Patients with fibromyalgia used significantly more CAM methods (2.7 +/- 1.4, p = 0.005). On patients' self-perceived efficacy scale of 1-10, the mean score of the whole group was 5.3+/- 3.2. Acupuncture and homeopathy achieved significantly higher self-perceived efficacy scores in CAM users with spondylo-arthropathies and osteoarthritis, respectively, when compared to some of the other disease groups. Satisfaction was lowest among CAM users with rheumatoid arthritis, vasculitis and connective tissue diseases. CONCLUSION: In general, CAM users were less than moderately satisfied with self-perceived-efficacy of CAM therapies. However efficacy of specific CAM methods differed significantly among patients in different disease groups.
PMID: 16173249 [PubMed - in process]
Breuer GS, Orbach H, Elkayam O, Berkun Y, Paran D, Mates M, Nesher G
Assessment of the ear and otoacoustic emission findings in fibromyalgia syndrome.
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Assessment of the ear and otoacoustic emission findings in fibromyalgia syndrome.
Clin Exp Rheumatol. 2005 Sep-Oct;23(5):701-3
Authors: Yilmaz M, Baysal E, Gunduz B, Aksu A, Ensari N, Meray J, Bayazit YA
OBJECTIVE: We aimed to assess otoacoustic emission (OAE) findings in fibromyalgia (FM) syndrome. METHODS: Thirty-two ears of 16 female patients with FM syndrome and 30 ears of 15 healthy female controls were also included in the study. Pure tone audiometry, speech discrimination testing, tympanometry and otoacoustic emission testing (both transiently evoked and distortion product) were performed. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the pure tone hearing results of the patients and controls (p > 0.05). There was no significant difference between the distortion-product-otoacoustic emission results of the patients and controls. Audiologic findings of the patients with and without otologic symptoms were not significantly different than controls (p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Although FM patients generally have subjective symptoms related to ear, clinical or laboratory assessments usually fail to find out any objective finding related to these subjective symptoms. The otologic functionsseem spared in FM syndrome.
PMID: 16173251 [PubMed - in process]
Yilmaz M, Baysal E, Gunduz B, Aksu A, Ensari N, Meray J, Bayazit YA
A double-blind study in healthy volunteers to assess the effects on sleep of pregabalin compared with alprazolam and placebo.
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A double-blind study in healthy volunteers to assess the effects on sleep of pregabalin compared with alprazolam and placebo.
Sleep. 2005 Feb 1;28(2):187-93
Authors: Hindmarch I, Dawson J, Stanley N
STUDY OBJECTIVES: To assess the effects of pregabalin compared with alprazolam and placebo on aspects of sleep in healthy volunteers. DESIGN: Randomized, double-blind, placebo- and active-controlled, 3-way crossover. SETTING: Single research center. PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONS: Healthy adult (12 men) volunteers (N=24) received oral pregabalin 150 mg t.i.d., alprazolam 1 mg t.i.d., and placebo t.i.d. for 3 days. MEASUREMENTS AND RESULTS: Objective sleep was measured by an 8-channel polysomnograph; subjective sleep was measured using the Leeds Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire. Compared with placebo, pregabalin significantly increased slow-wave sleep both as a proportion of the total sleep period and the duration of stage 4 sleep. Alprazolam significantly reduced slow-wave sleep. Pregabalin and alprazolam produced modest, but significant, reductions in sleep-onset latency compared with placebo. Rapid eye movement sleep latency after pregabalin was no different than placebo but was significantly shorter than that found with alprazolam. Although there were no differences between the active treatments, both pregabalin and alprazolam reduced rapid eye movement sleep as a proportion of the total sleep period compared with placebo. Pregabalin also significantly reduced the number of awakenings of more than 1 minute in duration. Leeds Sleep Evaluation Questionnaire ratings of the ease of getting to sleep and the perceived quality of sleep were significantly improved following both active treatments, and ratings of behavior following awakening were significantly impaired by both drug treatments. CONCLUSIONS: Pregabalin appears to have an effect on sleep and sleep architecture that distinguishes it from benzodiazepines. Enhancement of slow-wave sleep is intriguing, since reductions in slow-wave sleep have frequently been reported in fibromyalgia and general anxiety disorder.
PMID: 16171242 [PubMed - in process]
Hindmarch I, Dawson J, Stanley N