Poison control

About: Poison control is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 394709 publications have been published within this topic receiving 15781638 citations.

Sex differences in trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder: a quantitative review of 25 years of research.

Abstract: Meta-analyses of studies yielding sex-specific risk of potentially traumatic events (PTEs) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) indicated that female participants were more likely than male participants to meet criteria for PTSD, although they were less likely to experience PTEs. Female participants were more likely than male participants to experience sexual assault and child sexual abuse, but less likely to experience accidents, nonsexual assaults, witnessing death or injury, disaster or fire, and combat or war. Among victims of specific PTEs (excluding sexual assault or abuse), female participants exhibited greater PTSD. Thus, sex differences in risk of exposure to particular types of PTE can only partially account for the differential PTSD risk in male and female participants.

Pituitary-Adrenal and Autonomic Responses to Stress in Women After Sexual and Physical Abuse in Childhood

Abstract: ContextEvidence suggests that early adverse experiences play a preeminent role in development of mood and anxiety disorders and that corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) systems may mediate this association.ObjectiveTo determine whether early-life stress results in a persistent sensitization of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis to mild stress in adulthood, thereby contributing to vulnerability to psychopathological conditions.Design and SettingProspective controlled study conducted from May 1997 to July 1999 at the General Clinical Research Center of Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, Ga.ParticipantsForty-nine healthy women aged 18 to 45 years with regular menses, with no history of mania or psychosis, with no active substance abuse or eating disorder within 6 months, and who were free of hormonal and psychotropic medications were recruited into 4 study groups (n = 12 with no history of childhood abuse or psychiatric disorder [controls]; n = 13 with diagnosis of current major depression who were sexually or physically abused as children; n = 14 without current major depression who were sexually or physically abused as children; and n = 10 with diagnosis of current major depression and no history of childhood abuse).Main Outcome MeasuresAdrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) and cortisol levels and heart rate responses to a standardized psychosocial laboratory stressor compared among the 4 study groups.ResultsWomen with a history of childhood abuse exhibited increased pituitary-adrenal and autonomic responses to stress compared with controls. This effect was particularly robust in women with current symptoms of depression and anxiety. Women with a history of childhood abuse and a current major depression diagnosis exhibited a more than 6-fold greater ACTH response to stress than age-matched controls (net peak of 9.0 pmol/L [41.0 pg/mL]; 95% confidence interval [CI], 4.7-13.3 pmol/L [21.6-60.4 pg/mL]; vs net peak of 1.4 pmol/L [6.19 pg/mL]; 95% CI, 0.2-2.5 pmol/L [1.0-11.4 pg/mL]; difference, 8.6 pmol/L [38.9 pg/mL]; 95% CI, 4.6-12.6 pmol/L [20.8-57.1 pg/mL]; P<.001).ConclusionsOur findings suggest that hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and autonomic nervous system hyperreactivity, presumably due to CRF hypersecretion, is a persistent consequence of childhood abuse that may contribute to the diathesis for adulthood psychopathological conditions. Furthermore, these results imply a role for CRF receptor antagonists in the prevention and treatment of psychopathological conditions related to early-life stress.

Sex differences and the epidemiology of depression.

Abstract: • This article reviews the evidence for differing rates of depression between the sexes in the United States and elsewhere during the last 40 years, and then critically analyzes the various explanations offered. These explanations include the possibility that the trends are spurious because of artifacts produced by methods of reporting symptoms, or that they are real because of biological susceptibility (possibly genetic or female endocrine), psychosocial factors such as social discrimination, or female-learned helplessness.

Childhood traumas: an outline and overview.

Abstract: Childhood psychic trauma appears to be a crucial etiological factor in the development of a number of serious disorders both in childhood and in adulthood. Like childhood rheumatic fever, psychic trauma sets a number of different problems into motion, any of which may lead to a definable mental condition. The author suggests four characteristics related to childhood trauma that appear to last for long periods of life, no matter what diagnosis the patient eventually receives. These are visualized or otherwise repeatedly perceived memories of the traumatic event, repetitive behaviors, trauma-specific fears, and changed attitudes about people, life, and the future. She divides childhood trauma into two basic types and defines the findings that can be used to characterize each of these types. Type I trauma includes full, detailed memories, "omens," and misperceptions. Type II trauma includes denial and numbing, self-hypnosis and dissociation, and rage. Crossover conditions often occur after sudden, shocking deaths or accidents that leave children handicapped. In these instances, characteristics of both type I and type II childhood traumas exist side by side. There may be considerable sadness. Each finding of childhood trauma discussed by the author is illustrated with one or two case examples.