Naotaka Shinfuku - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Naotaka Shinfuku

Research paper thumbnail of Clinical Characteristics and Psychotropic Drug Prescription Patterns of Bipolar Disorder Patients with a History of Suicidal Attempts: Findings from the REAP-BD, Korea

Psychiatry Investigation, Jun 25, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Nutritional knowledge, food habits and health attitude of Chinese university students –a cross sectional study–

Nutrition Journal, Feb 9, 2005

Research paper thumbnail of Dosing of Mood Stabilizers for Bipolar Disorder Patients in the Research on Asian Psychotropic Prescription Patterns Consortium Study

Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology

Abstract Background Because use and dosing of mood stabilizers (MSs) to treat bipolar disorder (B... more Abstract Background Because use and dosing of mood stabilizers (MSs) to treat bipolar disorder (BD) patients in Asia are not well documented, we examined prevalence and clinical correlates of treatment of Asian BD patients with relatively high doses of MSs. Methods We conducted a pharmacoepidemiological survey across 13 Asian countries and territory in the Research on Asian Psychotropic Prescription Patterns Consortium. Mood stabilizer doses were converted to lithium carbonate equivalents (Li-eq milligrams per day). We compared relatively high (>900 Li-eq mg/day) versus lower MS doses by bivariate comparisons, followed by multivariable linear regression to identify factors associated with higher MS doses. Results Among 1647 participants, MS dose averaged 584 (confidence interval, 565–603 Li-eq mg/d). Preliminarily, the 13.1% of the subjects given greater than 900 mg/d versus those given lower doses were younger, male, currently hospitalized, not currently depressed, and reported lifetime suicidal ideation; they also received relatively high doses of antipsychotics, received electroconvulsive treatment within the previous 12 months, and had greater ratings of tremors and sedation. By linear regression modeling, the mean proportion given high doses of MS was associated significantly and independently with higher doses of antipsychotics, younger age, male sex, hospitalized, more years of illness, country, higher body mass index, recent electroconvulsive treatment, and being in illness remission. Conclusions Relatively high doses of MSs for BD are prevalent, but vary markedly among Asian countries, and are particularly likely among young males, ill for many years, and given high doses of antipsychotics or ECT. These characteristics allow better identification of patient profiles that can guide treatment of BD patients.

Research paper thumbnail of Clozapine Use for Bipolar Disorder

Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology

Research paper thumbnail of The factor structure of extrapyramidal symptoms evaluated using the Drug‐Induced Extrapyramidal Symptoms Scale in patients with schizophrenia: Results from the 2016 REAP AP‐4 study

Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental

IntroductionDrug‐induced extrapyramidal syndrome (EPS) remains a major problem in clinical psychi... more IntroductionDrug‐induced extrapyramidal syndrome (EPS) remains a major problem in clinical psychiatry. This study aimed to examine the factor structure of drug‐induced extrapyramidal symptoms observed in patients with schizophrenia and assessed using the Drug‐Induced Extrapyramidal Symptoms Scale (DIEPSS).MethodsThe participants were 1478 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia whose EPS was assessed using the DIEPSS in India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan in the 2016 REAP AP‐4 study. The records of the participants were randomly divided into two subgroups: the first for exploratory factor analysis of the eight DIEPSS items, and the second for confirmatory factor analysis.ResultsThe factor analysis identified three factors: F1 (gait and bradykinesia), F2 (muscle rigidity and tremor), and F3 (sialorrhea, akathisia, dystonia, and dyskinesia).ConclusionThe results suggest that the eight individual items of the DIEPSS could be composed of three different mechanisms: acute pa...

Research paper thumbnail of The Track of my Life and the Explanatory Notes on my Works

Research paper thumbnail of Urban Mental Health in the Twenty-First Century

Advances in Psychiatry, 2018

Research paper thumbnail of Mental Health Care in 11 Major Cities Over Two Decades

This chapter investigates how mental health services have changed over the past two decades in a ... more This chapter investigates how mental health services have changed over the past two decades in a selection of 11 major cities from four different continents. Overall, deinstitutionalization has moved patient care away from hospitals and into community settings where mental health centers are now developing outpatient services. The cities presented are Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Baltimore (the United States), Bangalore (India), Copenhagen (Denmark), Kobe (Japan), London (United Kingdom), Porto Alegre (Brazil), Sydney (Australia), Madison (the United States), Tehran (Iran), and Verona (Italy). These cities have been selected to represent a global perspective including different continents, cultures, D. Goldberg (*) Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, UK G. Thornicroft Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience of King’s College, London, UK M. Abbasinejad Department for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran, University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran F. Amaddeo Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine andMovement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy e-mail: francesco.amaddeo@univr.it G. Andrews CRUfAD, UNSW at St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia e-mail: gavina@unsw.edu.au # Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2017 N. Okkels et al. (eds.), Mental Health and Illness in the City, Mental Health and Illness Worldwide, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2327-9_19 223 and religions. This chapter reports of several promising community care initiatives and evidence that the era of institutionalization may be ending.

Research paper thumbnail of Dyskinesia is most centrally situated in an estimated network of extrapyramidal syndrome in Asian patients with schizophrenia: findings from research on Asian psychotropic prescription patterns for antipsychotics

Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of To use the brief psychiatric rating scale to detect disorganized speech in schizophrenia: Findings from the REAP-AP study

The Kaohsiung journal of medical sciences, 2018

Our study aimed to assess the psychometric validity of the conceptual disorganization item and ot... more Our study aimed to assess the psychometric validity of the conceptual disorganization item and other items of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) for detecting disorganized speech in patients with schizophrenia. We included 357 schizophrenia patients with disorganized speech and 1082 without disorganized speech from the survey centers in India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan, using the data from the Research on Asian Psychotropic Patterns for Antipsychotics (REAP-AP) study. After adjusting the effects of confounding variables, a binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify BPRS items independently associated with disorganized speech. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to identify optimum cut-off scores and their sensitivities and specificities for detecting disorganized speech. After adjusting the effects of confounding variables, the fitted binary logistic regression model indicated that conceptual disorganization (P < 0.0001), unco...

Research paper thumbnail of High Dose Antipsychotic Use in Schizophrenia: Findings of the REAP (Research on East Asia Psychotropic Prescriptions) Study

Pharmacopsychiatry, 2004

High-dose antipsychotic regimes (defined as the prescription of more than 1000 chlorpromazine-equ... more High-dose antipsychotic regimes (defined as the prescription of more than 1000 chlorpromazine-equivalents milligrams of antipsychotic per day) in the management of patients with schizophrenia are not uncommon, but most reports are from western countries. Recent functional neuroimaging studies have found that the previous notion concerning the use of antipsychotic medication, especially in high doses, was unsupported and untenable. This international study examined the use of high dose antipsychotic medication and its clinical correlates in schizophrenia patients within six East Asian countries/territories. Within the study group (n = 2399), 430 patients (17.9%) were prescribed high dose antipsychotics. Antipsychotic use varied significantly between countries, with Japan, Korea, and Singapore using higher doses than the other countries. High dose antipsychotic use was associated with younger age in Japan (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.001), longer duration of admission (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.001), duration of illness (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.001, particularly in Korea and Taiwan), positive psychotic symptoms (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.001, particularly in Japan and Korea), and aggression (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.05, particularly in Japan), and also with a higher likelihood of extrapyramidal and autonomic adverse effects (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.05, particularly in China). Country, younger age, the presence of delusions and disorganized speech, polypharmacy, and receiving depot medication but not atypical antipsychotic drugs were important predictors of high antipsychotic use. This survey revealed that high antipsychotic dosing is not an uncommon practice in East Asia. It behooves the prescribing clinicians to constantly reevaluate the rationale for such a practice.

Research paper thumbnail of Trends in prescription of antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenic inpatients in Japan

International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2001

Research paper thumbnail of P.3.c.018 The characteristics of pharmacotherapy for inpatients with schizophrenia: a multicentre comparative study in Asia

European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of Adjunctive antidepressant use and its clinical correlates in patients with schizophrenia: an East Asia multicenter comparative prescribing audit

Asia-Pacific Psychiatry, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of President of The Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations

Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2008

Research paper thumbnail of Comparison of psychiatrists’ views on classification of mental disorders in four East Asian countries/area

Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2010

Authors of this study collaborated with psychiatrists in East Asia to undertake the international... more Authors of this study collaborated with psychiatrists in East Asia to undertake the international survey with the following objectives: (1) to identify the psychiatric classification systems currently used in East Asia, (2) to describe the views of psychiatrists on the classificatory systems of mental disorders in Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan, (3) to analyze their similarities and differences among the four countries/area, and (4) to discuss factors which influence the usages of the classificatory systems in East Asia. Views of psychiatrists in four East Asian countries/area were collected by a minimum of 100 psychiatrists in each country/area using the same questionnaire. Psychiatrists from East Asian countries/area completed the questionnaire developed originally by a New Zealand psychiatrist and translated into Japanese, Korean and Chinese. The questionnaire was designed to determine the views of psychiatrists in the utilization, preference, and opinion about the current classificatory systems represented by the DSM and ICD. The study revealed variations in the utilization, preference and opinion for further revision of the DSM and the ICD classificatory systems in East Asia. Psychiatrists in China and Japan routinely use the ICD, while psychiatrists in Korea and Taiwan favor using the DSM. The majority of Asian psychiatrists expressed the view that it was sometimes difficult to apply the system transculturally. Views on psychiatric classification in a country/area are strongly influenced by several factors including mental health service systems, psychiatric resources and historical background.

Research paper thumbnail of 442 Japanese Data from Research on East Asian Psychotropic Prescription Pattern: Analysis of 514 Cases at Major Psychiatric Institutions in Japan

Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2011

Research paper thumbnail of International study on antidepressant prescription pattern at 20 teaching hospitals and major psychiatric institutions in East Asia: Analysis of 1898 cases from China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan

Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 2007

The purpose of the present study was to review the prescription patterns of antidepressants in ... more The purpose of the present study was to review the prescription patterns of antidepressants in different countries in East Asia. The survey was conducted in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan from October 2003 to March 2004 using the unified research protocol and questionnaire. Twenty teaching hospitals and major psychiatric hospitals participated and a total of 1898 patients receiving antidepressants were analyzed. The survey provided a number of interesting characteristics on the prescription patterns of antidepressant in East Asia. Out of 56 antidepressants listed in the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification (ATC) index by the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Drug Statistics Methodology (Oslo), only 26 antidepressants were prescribed in participating countries in East Asia. On average 38.4% of prescriptions of antidepressants were for patients with diagnoses other than depressive disorders. The availability and commonly prescribed antidep...

Research paper thumbnail of Comparative study of quality of life between the Chinese and Japanese adolescent populations

Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 2000

Researchers from Japan, China and Singapore have initiated a collaborative project, with the aim ... more Researchers from Japan, China and Singapore have initiated a collaborative project, with the aim of comparing adolescent quality of life (QOL) internationally. This study presents the primary results of the investigation conducted in Beijing, China, and Kobe, Japan. The 70‐item Quality of Life Questionnaire for Adolescents (QOLQA) was developed and evaluated in Japan and China. In total, 1114 Japanese and 613 Chinese junior high school students, aged 12–15 years, completed the questionnaire. Chinese students scored significantly higher than the Japanese students in overall QOL scores and in most domains. For both groups, subjects had highest score in the independence domain and lowest in psychological domain. In terms of overall QOL score, Chinese male students ranked first, followed by Chinese girls, Japanese boys, and Japanese girls. In the Japanese group, a continuing decrease of QOL scores with age was observed without exception, but no such tendency was present in their Chinese...

Research paper thumbnail of Longitudinal Study of Earthquake-Related PTSD in a Randomly Selected Community Sample in North China

American Journal of Psychiatry, 2000

Research paper thumbnail of Clinical Characteristics and Psychotropic Drug Prescription Patterns of Bipolar Disorder Patients with a History of Suicidal Attempts: Findings from the REAP-BD, Korea

Psychiatry Investigation, Jun 25, 2019

Research paper thumbnail of Nutritional knowledge, food habits and health attitude of Chinese university students –a cross sectional study–

Nutrition Journal, Feb 9, 2005

Research paper thumbnail of Dosing of Mood Stabilizers for Bipolar Disorder Patients in the Research on Asian Psychotropic Prescription Patterns Consortium Study

Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology

Abstract Background Because use and dosing of mood stabilizers (MSs) to treat bipolar disorder (B... more Abstract Background Because use and dosing of mood stabilizers (MSs) to treat bipolar disorder (BD) patients in Asia are not well documented, we examined prevalence and clinical correlates of treatment of Asian BD patients with relatively high doses of MSs. Methods We conducted a pharmacoepidemiological survey across 13 Asian countries and territory in the Research on Asian Psychotropic Prescription Patterns Consortium. Mood stabilizer doses were converted to lithium carbonate equivalents (Li-eq milligrams per day). We compared relatively high (>900 Li-eq mg/day) versus lower MS doses by bivariate comparisons, followed by multivariable linear regression to identify factors associated with higher MS doses. Results Among 1647 participants, MS dose averaged 584 (confidence interval, 565–603 Li-eq mg/d). Preliminarily, the 13.1% of the subjects given greater than 900 mg/d versus those given lower doses were younger, male, currently hospitalized, not currently depressed, and reported lifetime suicidal ideation; they also received relatively high doses of antipsychotics, received electroconvulsive treatment within the previous 12 months, and had greater ratings of tremors and sedation. By linear regression modeling, the mean proportion given high doses of MS was associated significantly and independently with higher doses of antipsychotics, younger age, male sex, hospitalized, more years of illness, country, higher body mass index, recent electroconvulsive treatment, and being in illness remission. Conclusions Relatively high doses of MSs for BD are prevalent, but vary markedly among Asian countries, and are particularly likely among young males, ill for many years, and given high doses of antipsychotics or ECT. These characteristics allow better identification of patient profiles that can guide treatment of BD patients.

Research paper thumbnail of Clozapine Use for Bipolar Disorder

Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology

Research paper thumbnail of The factor structure of extrapyramidal symptoms evaluated using the Drug‐Induced Extrapyramidal Symptoms Scale in patients with schizophrenia: Results from the 2016 REAP AP‐4 study

Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental

IntroductionDrug‐induced extrapyramidal syndrome (EPS) remains a major problem in clinical psychi... more IntroductionDrug‐induced extrapyramidal syndrome (EPS) remains a major problem in clinical psychiatry. This study aimed to examine the factor structure of drug‐induced extrapyramidal symptoms observed in patients with schizophrenia and assessed using the Drug‐Induced Extrapyramidal Symptoms Scale (DIEPSS).MethodsThe participants were 1478 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia whose EPS was assessed using the DIEPSS in India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan in the 2016 REAP AP‐4 study. The records of the participants were randomly divided into two subgroups: the first for exploratory factor analysis of the eight DIEPSS items, and the second for confirmatory factor analysis.ResultsThe factor analysis identified three factors: F1 (gait and bradykinesia), F2 (muscle rigidity and tremor), and F3 (sialorrhea, akathisia, dystonia, and dyskinesia).ConclusionThe results suggest that the eight individual items of the DIEPSS could be composed of three different mechanisms: acute pa...

Research paper thumbnail of The Track of my Life and the Explanatory Notes on my Works

Research paper thumbnail of Urban Mental Health in the Twenty-First Century

Advances in Psychiatry, 2018

Research paper thumbnail of Mental Health Care in 11 Major Cities Over Two Decades

This chapter investigates how mental health services have changed over the past two decades in a ... more This chapter investigates how mental health services have changed over the past two decades in a selection of 11 major cities from four different continents. Overall, deinstitutionalization has moved patient care away from hospitals and into community settings where mental health centers are now developing outpatient services. The cities presented are Amsterdam (the Netherlands), Baltimore (the United States), Bangalore (India), Copenhagen (Denmark), Kobe (Japan), London (United Kingdom), Porto Alegre (Brazil), Sydney (Australia), Madison (the United States), Tehran (Iran), and Verona (Italy). These cities have been selected to represent a global perspective including different continents, cultures, D. Goldberg (*) Institute of Psychiatry, King’s College London, London, UK G. Thornicroft Institute of Psychiatry Psychology and Neuroscience of King’s College, London, UK M. Abbasinejad Department for Mental Health and Substance Abuse, Roozbeh Hospital, Tehran, University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran F. Amaddeo Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine andMovement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy e-mail: francesco.amaddeo@univr.it G. Andrews CRUfAD, UNSW at St Vincent’s Hospital, Darlinghurst, NSW, Australia e-mail: gavina@unsw.edu.au # Springer Science+Business Media Singapore 2017 N. Okkels et al. (eds.), Mental Health and Illness in the City, Mental Health and Illness Worldwide, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-2327-9_19 223 and religions. This chapter reports of several promising community care initiatives and evidence that the era of institutionalization may be ending.

Research paper thumbnail of Dyskinesia is most centrally situated in an estimated network of extrapyramidal syndrome in Asian patients with schizophrenia: findings from research on Asian psychotropic prescription patterns for antipsychotics

Nordic Journal of Psychiatry, 2020

Research paper thumbnail of To use the brief psychiatric rating scale to detect disorganized speech in schizophrenia: Findings from the REAP-AP study

The Kaohsiung journal of medical sciences, 2018

Our study aimed to assess the psychometric validity of the conceptual disorganization item and ot... more Our study aimed to assess the psychometric validity of the conceptual disorganization item and other items of the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) for detecting disorganized speech in patients with schizophrenia. We included 357 schizophrenia patients with disorganized speech and 1082 without disorganized speech from the survey centers in India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, and Taiwan, using the data from the Research on Asian Psychotropic Patterns for Antipsychotics (REAP-AP) study. After adjusting the effects of confounding variables, a binary logistic regression model was fitted to identify BPRS items independently associated with disorganized speech. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to identify optimum cut-off scores and their sensitivities and specificities for detecting disorganized speech. After adjusting the effects of confounding variables, the fitted binary logistic regression model indicated that conceptual disorganization (P < 0.0001), unco...

Research paper thumbnail of High Dose Antipsychotic Use in Schizophrenia: Findings of the REAP (Research on East Asia Psychotropic Prescriptions) Study

Pharmacopsychiatry, 2004

High-dose antipsychotic regimes (defined as the prescription of more than 1000 chlorpromazine-equ... more High-dose antipsychotic regimes (defined as the prescription of more than 1000 chlorpromazine-equivalents milligrams of antipsychotic per day) in the management of patients with schizophrenia are not uncommon, but most reports are from western countries. Recent functional neuroimaging studies have found that the previous notion concerning the use of antipsychotic medication, especially in high doses, was unsupported and untenable. This international study examined the use of high dose antipsychotic medication and its clinical correlates in schizophrenia patients within six East Asian countries/territories. Within the study group (n = 2399), 430 patients (17.9%) were prescribed high dose antipsychotics. Antipsychotic use varied significantly between countries, with Japan, Korea, and Singapore using higher doses than the other countries. High dose antipsychotic use was associated with younger age in Japan (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.001), longer duration of admission (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.001), duration of illness (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.001, particularly in Korea and Taiwan), positive psychotic symptoms (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.001, particularly in Japan and Korea), and aggression (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.05, particularly in Japan), and also with a higher likelihood of extrapyramidal and autonomic adverse effects (p &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt; 0.05, particularly in China). Country, younger age, the presence of delusions and disorganized speech, polypharmacy, and receiving depot medication but not atypical antipsychotic drugs were important predictors of high antipsychotic use. This survey revealed that high antipsychotic dosing is not an uncommon practice in East Asia. It behooves the prescribing clinicians to constantly reevaluate the rationale for such a practice.

Research paper thumbnail of Trends in prescription of antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenic inpatients in Japan

International Clinical Psychopharmacology, 2001

Research paper thumbnail of P.3.c.018 The characteristics of pharmacotherapy for inpatients with schizophrenia: a multicentre comparative study in Asia

European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of Adjunctive antidepressant use and its clinical correlates in patients with schizophrenia: an East Asia multicenter comparative prescribing audit

Asia-Pacific Psychiatry, 2010

Research paper thumbnail of President of The Asian Federation of Psychiatric Associations

Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2008

Research paper thumbnail of Comparison of psychiatrists’ views on classification of mental disorders in four East Asian countries/area

Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2010

Authors of this study collaborated with psychiatrists in East Asia to undertake the international... more Authors of this study collaborated with psychiatrists in East Asia to undertake the international survey with the following objectives: (1) to identify the psychiatric classification systems currently used in East Asia, (2) to describe the views of psychiatrists on the classificatory systems of mental disorders in Japan, Korea, China and Taiwan, (3) to analyze their similarities and differences among the four countries/area, and (4) to discuss factors which influence the usages of the classificatory systems in East Asia. Views of psychiatrists in four East Asian countries/area were collected by a minimum of 100 psychiatrists in each country/area using the same questionnaire. Psychiatrists from East Asian countries/area completed the questionnaire developed originally by a New Zealand psychiatrist and translated into Japanese, Korean and Chinese. The questionnaire was designed to determine the views of psychiatrists in the utilization, preference, and opinion about the current classificatory systems represented by the DSM and ICD. The study revealed variations in the utilization, preference and opinion for further revision of the DSM and the ICD classificatory systems in East Asia. Psychiatrists in China and Japan routinely use the ICD, while psychiatrists in Korea and Taiwan favor using the DSM. The majority of Asian psychiatrists expressed the view that it was sometimes difficult to apply the system transculturally. Views on psychiatric classification in a country/area are strongly influenced by several factors including mental health service systems, psychiatric resources and historical background.

Research paper thumbnail of 442 Japanese Data from Research on East Asian Psychotropic Prescription Pattern: Analysis of 514 Cases at Major Psychiatric Institutions in Japan

Asian Journal of Psychiatry, 2011

Research paper thumbnail of International study on antidepressant prescription pattern at 20 teaching hospitals and major psychiatric institutions in East Asia: Analysis of 1898 cases from China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan

Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 2007

The purpose of the present study was to review the prescription patterns of antidepressants in ... more The purpose of the present study was to review the prescription patterns of antidepressants in different countries in East Asia. The survey was conducted in China, Japan, Korea, Singapore and Taiwan from October 2003 to March 2004 using the unified research protocol and questionnaire. Twenty teaching hospitals and major psychiatric hospitals participated and a total of 1898 patients receiving antidepressants were analyzed. The survey provided a number of interesting characteristics on the prescription patterns of antidepressant in East Asia. Out of 56 antidepressants listed in the Anatomical Therapeutic Chemical Classification (ATC) index by the World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Center for Drug Statistics Methodology (Oslo), only 26 antidepressants were prescribed in participating countries in East Asia. On average 38.4% of prescriptions of antidepressants were for patients with diagnoses other than depressive disorders. The availability and commonly prescribed antidep...

Research paper thumbnail of Comparative study of quality of life between the Chinese and Japanese adolescent populations

Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences, 2000

Researchers from Japan, China and Singapore have initiated a collaborative project, with the aim ... more Researchers from Japan, China and Singapore have initiated a collaborative project, with the aim of comparing adolescent quality of life (QOL) internationally. This study presents the primary results of the investigation conducted in Beijing, China, and Kobe, Japan. The 70‐item Quality of Life Questionnaire for Adolescents (QOLQA) was developed and evaluated in Japan and China. In total, 1114 Japanese and 613 Chinese junior high school students, aged 12–15 years, completed the questionnaire. Chinese students scored significantly higher than the Japanese students in overall QOL scores and in most domains. For both groups, subjects had highest score in the independence domain and lowest in psychological domain. In terms of overall QOL score, Chinese male students ranked first, followed by Chinese girls, Japanese boys, and Japanese girls. In the Japanese group, a continuing decrease of QOL scores with age was observed without exception, but no such tendency was present in their Chinese...

Research paper thumbnail of Longitudinal Study of Earthquake-Related PTSD in a Randomly Selected Community Sample in North China

American Journal of Psychiatry, 2000