Author
Marco Bortolomasi
Bio: Marco Bortolomasi is an academic researcher. The author has contributed to research in topics: Major depressive disorder & Electroconvulsive therapy. The author has an hindex of 19, co-authored 40 publications receiving 1616 citations.
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TL;DR: The alcohol use disorders identification test performs well in detecting subjects with formal alcohol disorders and those with hazardous alcohol intake, and these are recommended as questions of choice to screen patients for alcohol problems.
Abstract: Objective: To determine the properties of the alcohol use disorders identification test in screening primary care attenders for alcohol problems. Design: A validity study among consecutive primary care attenders aged 18-65 years. Every third subject completed the alcohol use disorders identification test (a 10 item self report questionnaire on alcohol intake and related problems) and was interviewed by an investigator with the composite international diagnostic interview alcohol use module (a standardised interview for the independent assessment of alcohol intake and related disorders). Setting: 10 primary care clinics in Verona, north eastern Italy. Patients: 500 subjects were approached and 482 (96.4%) completed evaluation. Results: When the alcohol use disorders identification test was used to detect subjects with alcohol problems the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve was 0.95. The cut off score of 5 was associated with a sensitivity of 0.84, a specificity of 0.90, and a positive predictive value of 0.60. The screening ability of the total score derived from summing the responses to the five items minimising the probability of misclassification between subjects with and without alcohol problems provided an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.93. A score of 5 or more on the five items was associated with a sensitivity of 0.79, a specificity of 0.95, and a positive predictive value of 0.73. Conclusions: The alcohol use disorders identification test performs well in detecting subjects with formal alcohol disorders and those with hazardous alcohol intake. Using five of the 10 items on the questionnaire gives reasonable accuracy, and these are recommended as questions of choice to screen patients for alcohol problems.
316 citations
TL;DR: It is concluded that frontal tDCS is a simple, promising technique that can be considered in clinical practice as adjuvant treatment for hospitalized patients with severe, drug-resistant major depression.
207 citations
TL;DR: A preliminary study suggests that tDCS is a promising treatment for patients with major depressive disorder and bipolar depressive disorder, and the beneficial effect persisted at one week and one month.
Abstract: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive method for brain stimulation. Although pilot trials have shown that tDCS yields promising results for major depressive disorder (MDD), its efficacy for bipolar depressive disorder (BDD), a condition with high prevalence and poor treatment outcomes, is unknown. In a previous study we explored the effectiveness of tDCS for MDD. Here, we expanded our research, recruiting patients with MDD and BDD. We enrolled 31 hospitalized patients (24 women) aged 30-70 years 17 with MDD and 14 with BDD (n = 14). All patients received stable drug regimens for at least two weeks before enrollment and drug dosages remained unchanged throughout the study. We applied tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (anodal electrode on the left and cathodal on the right) using a 2 mA-current for 20 min, twice-daily, for 5 consecutive days. Depression was measured at baseline, after 5 tDCS sessions, one week later, and one month after treatment onset. We used the scales of Beck (BDI) and Hamilton-21 items (HDRS). All patients tolerated treatment well without adverse effects. After the fifth tDCS session, depressive symptoms in both study groups diminished, and the beneficial effect persisted at one week and one month. In conclusion, our preliminary study suggests that tDCS is a promising treatment for patients with MDD and BDD.2.
189 citations
TL;DR: The results presented show for the first time that ECT is associated with changes in serum BDNF and further support the possible involvement of BDNF in antidepressant therapies.
174 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigated the interactions between tDCS and drug therapy in unipolar and bipolar depressed patients who were refractory for at least one pharmacological treatment and found that tDCS over the DLPFC acutely improved depressive symptoms.
124 citations
Cited by
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Paris 12 Val de Marne University1, French Institute of Health and Medical Research2, University of Göttingen3, Ghent University4, University Hospital of Lausanne5, University of Lisbon6, university of lille7, Università Campus Bio-Medico8, University of Belgrade9, University of Hamburg10, Turku University Hospital11, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki12, University of Regensburg13, University of Bern14, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich15, University of Siena16, The Catholic University of America17, University College London18, University of Ulm19, Copenhagen University Hospital20, University of Oxford21, University of Barcelona22, University of Tübingen23
TL;DR: There is a sufficient body of evidence to accept with level A (definite efficacy) the analgesic effect of high-frequency rTMS of the primary motor cortex (M1) contralateral to the pain and the antidepressant effect of HF-rT MS of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC).
1,554 citations
TL;DR: A growing body of research evidence supports the criterion validity of English version of the AUDIT as a screen for alcohol dependence as well as for less severe alcohol problems, Nevertheless, the cut-points for effective detection of hazardous drinking aswell as identification of alcohol dependence or harmful use in women need to be lowered.
Abstract: Background: The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) has been extensively researched to determine its capability to accurately and practically screen for alcohol problems.
Methods: During the 5 years since our previous review of the literature, a large number of additional studies have been published on the AUDIT, abbreviated versions of it, its psychometric properties, and the applicability of the AUDIT for a diverse array of populations. The current article summarizes new findings and integrates them with results of previous research. It also suggests some issues that we believe are particularly in need of further study.
Results: A growing body of research evidence supports the criterion validity of English version of the AUDIT as a screen for alcohol dependence as well as for less severe alcohol problems. Nevertheless, the cut-points for effective detection of hazardous drinking as well as identification of alcohol dependence or harmful use in women need to be lowered from the originally recommended value of 8 points. The AUDIT-C, the most popular short version of the AUDIT consisting solely of its 3 consumption items, is approximately equal in accuracy to the full AUDIT. Psychometric properties of the AUDIT, such as test–retest reliability and internal consistency, are quite favorable. Continued research is urged to establish the psychometric properties of non-English versions of the AUDIT, use of the AUDIT with adolescents and with older adults, and selective inclusion of alcohol biomarkers with the AUDIT in some instances.
Conclusions: Research continues to support use of the AUDIT as a means of screening for the spectrum of alcohol use disorders in various settings and with diverse populations.
1,273 citations
University of São Paulo1, University of Göttingen2, University of Milano-Bicocca3, City University of New York4, Massachusetts Institute of Technology5, Harvard University6, Boston University7, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center8, Fondazione IRCCS Ca' Granda Ospedale Maggiore Policlinico9, Mackenzie Investments10, Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital11
TL;DR: A workgroup of researchers in the field was convened to review, discuss, and provide updates and key challenges of tDCS use in clinical research, and some alternative methods to facilitate clinical research on tDCS are proposed.
1,186 citations
TL;DR: Although more research is needed on non-English versions to establish their psychometric properties, at least in its English edition, the AUDIT demonstrates sensitivities and specificities comparable, and typically superior, to those of other self-report screening measures.
Abstract: Background: Efficient, inexpensive screening for early stage alcohol problems is important in health care settings. The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) has been studied extensively to establish its value in this regard.
Methods: A literature search that used EtOH as a database was conducted to identify studies published on the AUDIT through September 2001. Keywords used for the search were “Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test” and “AUDIT.” All studies reporting psychometric properties of the measure were reviewed with particular attention being given to the period 1996 and later. A small number of additional references were located by noting their citation in other studies reviewed.
Results: Although more research is needed on non-English versions to establish their psychometric properties, at least in its English edition, the AUDIT demonstrates sensitivities and specificities comparable, and typically superior, to those of other self-report screening measures. Test-retest reliability and internal consistency are also quite favorable. For males, the AUDIT-C, a shortened version of the AUDIT, appears approximately equal in validity to the full scale.
Conclusions: Recent research continues to support use of the AUDIT as a means of screening for alcohol use disorders in health care settings in the United States.
1,071 citations
Paris 12 Val de Marne University1, University of Göttingen2, University Hospital of Lausanne3, French Institute of Health and Medical Research4, University of Milan5, University of Otago6, University of Regensburg7, University of Marburg8, Ruhr University Bochum9, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich10, University of Siena11, University of Texas at Dallas12, University of Tübingen13
TL;DR: It remains to be clarified whether the probable or possible therapeutic effects of tDCS are clinically meaningful and how to optimally perform tDCS in a therapeutic setting.
1,062 citations