University of Tennessee Health Science Center

About: University of Tennessee Health Science Center is a education organization based out in Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Medicine. The organization has 15716 authors who have published 26884 publications receiving 1176697 citations.

Clomipramine in the treatment of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder

Abstract: Two double-blind studies at 21 centers evaluated the therapeutic efficacy, safety, and tolerability of up to 300 mg/d of clomipramine hydrochloride or an equivalent number of placebo capsules in the treatment of 520 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder, of whom 239 had had the disorder for at least 2 years (study 1) and 281 had been ill for at least 1 year (study 2). On the two principal measures of the severity of the disorder, ie, the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale and the National Institute of Mental Health Global Obsessive Compulsive Scale, clomipramine was significantly more effective than placebo in both studies. The mean reduction in the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale score at the end of 10 weeks of treatment was 38% and 44% in studies 1 and 2, respectively, for the clomipramine-treated patients and 3% and 5% for the placebo-treated patients. The drug was also found to be superior on the basis of the physicians' and patients' evaluations of global therapeutic change. The most frequently observed adverse effects during clomipramine therapy were those typically associated with tricyclic antidepressant drugs. Although uncommon, the occurrence of seizures and elevated aminotransferase values are potentially serious side effects of clomipramine. Clomipramine was generally well tolerated and was effective in reducing obsessive and compulsive symptoms.

Beginning with the application in mind: Designing and planning health behavior change interventions to enhance dissemination

Abstract: Failing to retain an adequate number of study participants in behavioral intervention trials poses a threat to interpretation of study results and its external validity. This qualitative investigation describes the retention strategies promoted by the recruitment and retention committee of the Behavior Change Consortium, a group of 15 university-based sites funded by the National Institutes of Health to implement studies targeted toward disease prevention through behavior change. During biannual meetings, focus groups were conducted with all sites to determine barriers encountered in retaining study participants and strategies employed to address these barriers. All of the retention strategies reported were combined into 8 thematic retention categories. Those categories perceived to be most effective for retaining study participants were summarized and consistencies noted among site populations across the life course (e.g., older adults, adults, children, and adolescents). Further, possible discrepancies between site populations of varying health statuses are discussed, and an ecological framework is proposed for use in future investigations on retention.