Browsing by Subject "comorbidity"

Aims of the study. Earlier studies focusing on diagnosed autism spectrum disorders have found high prevalence of sleep problems and other psychiatric disorders among adolescents. Moreover, subclinical variation of autistic traits has been shown to be associated with social deficits and psychiatric symptoms. However, little is known about the possible connection between subclinical autistic traits and sleep. This study explores whether adolescents with elevated levels of subclinical autistic traits are at heightened risk for sleep problems. Methods. This study used follow-up data from the GLAKU (Glycyrrhizin in Licorice) cohort study. The sample consisted of 157 (57% girls) 17-year-old adolescents. Autistic traits were assessed using the Autism Spectrum Quotient. The Beck Anxiety Inventory, Beck Depression Inventory and Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale were utilized to control for comorbid psychiatric symptoms. Sleep was measured using actigraphs. Associations between autistic traits and sleep were examined using logistic regression analysis. Results and conclusions. Elevated levels of autistic traits were significantly associated with shorter weekday sleep duration. Moreover, autistic traits remained as an independent predictor of short sleep duration when comorbid psychiatric symptoms were controlled for. Risk for short sleep duration was more pronounced among boys. The results suggest that subclinical autistic traits should be considered as a possible underlying mechanism affecting adolescent sleep.

Background and objectives: Currently in Finland, there are over 66 000 women living with breast cancer. The five-year survival rate is 90.6 %. Breast cancer and its treatments are known to impair patients’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The current study is a part of an open prospective randomized Breast cancer and exercise (BREX) -study in Finland conducted to investigate whether supervised exercise training shortly after the adjuvant treatments of breast cancer patients could prevent osteoporosis and improve patient’s quality of life. This master thesis examines cross-sectional and prospective associations between the sense of coherence (SOC) and the HRQoL of breast cancer survivors. Methods: 537 long-term breast cancer survivors and controls who participated in a prospective randomized physical exercise intervention with twelve months of supervised exercise training were followed up five years. 406 participants who finished the 5-year follow-up and filled the SOC questionnaire were included in the final analyzes. The SOC was measured by 13-item Finnish and Swedish short forms of Orientation to life Questionnaire (SOC-13) at 3 years. Cancer-specific HRQoL was measured by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) version 3 and general HRQoL by the 15D. Associations between the SOC and the HRQoL were studied by logistic regression analyze. Results and conclusion: The SOC was associated with the cancer-specific and the general HRQoL at the 3-year (p < .001) and at the 5-year follow-up (p < .001). The relationship was the most significant for the general HRQoL, global health / quality of life and emotional and cognitive functions. Weak SOC increases the risk of low cancer-specific and low general HRQoL after the adjuvant treatments of breast cancer. Strong SOC as an inner resource may serve as a protective psychological factor in the adaptation process of breast cancer survivors. The SOC-13 questionnaire might be useful in targeting patients vulnerable to decrease in the HRQoL and in planning psychosocial interventions.

Goals. Specific language impairment (SLI) has a negative impact on child's speech and language development and interaction. Disorder may be associated with a wide range of comorbid problems. In clinical speech therapy it is important to see the child as a whole so that the rehabilitation can be targeted properly. The aim of this study was to describe the linguistic-cognitive and comorbid symptoms of children with SLI at the age of five, as well as to provide an overview of the developmental disorders in the families. The study is part of a larger research project, which will examine paths of development and quality of life of children with SLI as young adults. Methods. The data consisted of patient documents of 100 5-year old children, who were examined in Lastenlinna mainly at 1998. Majority of the subjects were boys, and children's primary diagnosis was either F80.1 or F80.2, which was most common, or both. The diagnosis and the information about the linguistic-cognitive status and comorbid symptoms were collected from reports of medical doctors and experts of other fields, as well as mentions related to familiality. Linguistic-cognitive symptoms were divided into subclasses of speech motor functions, prosessing of language, comprehension of language and use of language. Comorbid symptoms were divided into subclasses of interaction, activity and attention, emotional and behavior problems and neurologic problems. Statistical analyses were based mainly on Pearson's Chi Square test. Results and conclusions. Problems in language processing and speech motor functions were most common of the linguistic-cognitive symptoms. Most of the children had symptoms from two or three symptom classes, and it seemed that girls had more symptoms than boys. Usually children did not have any comorbid symptoms, or had them from one or three symptom classes. Of the comorbid symptoms the most prevalent ones were problems in activity and attention and neurological symptoms, which consisted mostly of motoric and visuomotoric symptoms. The most common of the comorbid diagnoses was F82, specific developmental disorder of motor function. According to literature children with SLI may have problems in mental health, but the results of this study did not confirm that. Children with diagnosis F80.2 had more linguistic-cognitive and comorbid symptoms than children with diagnosis F80.1. The cluster analyses based on all the symptoms revealed four subgroups of the subjects. Of the subjects 85 percent had a positive family history of developmental disorders, and the most prevalent problem in the families was delayed speech development. This study outlined the symptom profile of children with SLI and laid a foundation for the future longitudinal study. The results suggested that there are differences between linguistic-cognitive symptoms of boys and girls, which is important to notice especially when assessing and diagnosing children with SLI.