Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.
11 papers
This study measured health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Danish patients with ME/CFS using the EQ-5D-3L tool and found their scores were much lower than the general population and lower than 20 other conditions. The average (unadjusted) EQ-5D-3L score for the ME/CFS group was 0.47, while the population average was…
Depression is a prevalent psychiatric disorder that often leads to poor quality of life and impaired functioning. Treatment during the acute phase of a major depressive episode aims to help the patient reach a remission state and eventually return to their baseline level of functioning. Pharmacotherapy, especially selective serotonin reuptake…
This review looks at cognitive remediation (CR), which are training methods meant to improve thinking skills in people with psychiatric disorders. It notes that thinking problems are common and hurt daily life. Over the past 50 years the evidence for CR has grown, with the clearest support for treating schizophrenia…
This is the first study to evaluate ADHD-hyperactive/impulsive subtype in a large clinical sample of adults with ADHD. The Quality of Life, Effectiveness, Safety and Tolerability (QuEST) study included 725 adults who received clinician diagnoses of any ADHD sub-type. Cross-sectional baseline data from 691 patients diagnosed with the hyperactive/impulsive (HI),…
Depressive symptoms imply a loss of quality of life, leading to increased morbidity and mortality as well as increased costs to the healthcare system. Information on the prevalence and distribution of depressive symptoms in the population is essential in light of planning prevention and care. GEDA 2014/2015-EHIS surveyed current depressive…
Researchers studied 28 teaching professionals who wore a device for three days to record heart rate and steps and who completed questionnaires for burnout, depression, and everyday executive function. People who met criteria for burnout had more problems with executive functions in daily life, higher average heart rates, lower heart-rate…
Project Twenty21 collected real-world data from people in the UK who sought prescribed medicinal cannabis. Data at treatment start were available for 2,833 patients and 1,410 had 3-month follow-up for anxiety, chronic pain or PTSD. On average, patients reported improvements in condition-specific symptoms and in general health and quality of…
This case report describes a 68-year-old woman with fibromyalgia and other chronic pain that had not improved with standard treatments. She received seven increasing intravenous (IV) ketamine doses over two weeks, then continued IV ketamine twice weekly for more than a year. While on this schedule she reported marked, widespread…
This prospective observational study followed 438 adults who were new medical‑marijuana patients in Pennsylvania. Using the SF‑36 survey, participants reported statistically significant improvements in all eight areas of health‑related quality of life from before starting medical marijuana to three months later (P < .001 for all domains). Older participants showed…
This large Australian real-world study followed 2,353 adults who were newly prescribed medicinal cannabis oil and found that patient-reported quality of life, fatigue, sleep, pain (in people with chronic pain), and mood (in people with anxiety or depression) showed statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements that were maintained up to…
This small, preliminary randomized trial tested whether a short online mindful-compassion group and vaginal cannabis suppositories could help sexual problems after gynaecological cancer. Eighty-three women (aged 18 to 50+) who were at least six months after treatment were placed into four groups and measured at weeks 0, 4, and 12.…
