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Background: A telemedicine care concept based on telephone contacts and individualized text messages was developed for patients with mental disorders to continue treatment after therapy in a psychiatric day hospital. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the telemedicine interventions. Methods: The study had a 3-armed, randomized design with 2 intervention arms (intervention 1: telephone contacts; intervention 2: telephone contacts and short text messages; both took place over a period of 6 months and in addition to usual care), and a control group with usual care. Primary outcomes were 18-item Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI-18) scores for anxiety, depression and somatization. All participants were recruited from psychiatric day hospitals. The study was registered in the German Clinical Trials Register (DRKS00000662). Results: 113 participants were analyzed 6 months after starting the intervention. The average BSI-18 anxiety score after 6 months was -2.04 points lower in intervention group 2 than in the control group (p value: 0.042). The difference in BSI depression score between these two groups was marginally significant (p value: 0.1), with an average treatment effect of -1.73. In an exploratory sensitivity analysis restricted to the 75% of patients with the highest symptom scores at baseline, intervention group 1 yielded a significant effect for anxiety and depression compared to the control group (p = 0.036 and 0.046, respectively). Conclusions: Telemedicine provides a novel option in psychiatric ambulatory care with statistically significant effects on anxiety. A positive tendency was observed for depression, especially in cases with higher symptom load at baseline.
Abstract
Study Objective
Long‐term intake of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) might increase the risk of cardiovascular events. One suggested mechanism is that PPIs inhibit the enzyme dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH) and thereby block the degradation of endothelial asymmetrical dimethylarginine (ADMA). Excess ADMA in turn leads to impaired endothelial nitric oxide (NO) generation. So far, this mechanism has only been established in human cell cultures. Previous studies that examined this pathway in human populations measured circulating ADMA and found no association with PPI use and excess plasma ADMA. But in a recent study, plasma ADMA was not correlated with intracellular ADMA. We therefore focused on changes in plasma citrulline as an indicator for potential DDAH inhibition.
Design
We analyzed the association between regular daily PPI intake and flow‐mediated dilation (FMD) of the brachial artery as well as plasma concentrations of citrulline, arginine, ADMA, and symmetric dimethylarginine using inverse probability weighting to adjust for confounding and censoring.
Data Source
Data of 1298 participants from two independent cohorts of the population‐based Study of Health in Pomerania were used.
Participants
Participants of the population‐based Study of Health in Pomerania are a stratified random sample of the study region.
Exposure
Regular daily intake of PPIs.
Measurements
FMD of the brachial artery and plasma concentrations of citrulline, arginine, ADMA, and symmetric dimethylarginine.
Main Results
Eighty‐seven participants (57.5% female) were regular daily users of PPIs. In the fully adjusted models, associations were identified for FMD and plasma citrulline concentrations. PPI users revealed a 0.99% (95% CI: −1.96 to −0.02) lower FMD and 3.03 µmol/L (95% CI: −4.96 to −1.10) lower plasma citrulline levels as compared to non‐users.
Conclusion
Our data provide evidence that long‐term intake of PPIs might inhibit human DDAH activity, resulting in impaired endothelial NO production and reduced vascular function. In the long run, this might explain an increased risk for cardiovascular diseases associated with long‐term PPI use.