Comorbidity definition

The anxiety disorders are a case in point. They comprise a range of conditions contiguous with the affective disorders and the stress responses (Table 4.1). Much overlap and comorbidity exist. Furthermore, definitions and diagnostic criteria have changed substantially over the years. For example, generalized anxiety disorder is a rare condition in its pure form, but a common condition if comorbid phobic and depressive disorders are accepted. 

Lifetime prevalence rates of psychiatric comorbidity co-existing with bipolar disorder are 42% to 50%.16 Comorbidities, especially substance abuse, make it difficult to establish a definitive diagnosis and complicate treatment. Comorbidities also place the patient at risk for a poorer outcome, high rates of suicidal-ity, and onset of depression.2 Psychiatric comorbidities include ... 

Historically, the treatment of alcohol use disorders with medication has focused on the management of withdrawal from the alcohol. In recent years, medication has also been used in an attempt to prevent relapse in alcohol-dependent patients. The treatment of alcohol withdrawal, known as detoxification, by definition uses replacement medications that, like alcohol, act on the GABA receptor. These medications (i.e., barbiturates and benzodiazepines) are cross-tolerant with alcohol and therefore are useful for detoxification. By contrast, a wide variety of theoretical approaches have been used to reduce the likelihood of relapse. This includes aversion therapy and anticraving therapies using reward substitutes and interference approaches. Finally, medications to treat comorbid psychiatric illness, in particular, depression, have also been used in attempts to reduce the likelihood of relapse. 

As new projects are launched, it will be important to use operationalized definitions of remission, recurrence, and relapses (Frank et al. 1991) to consider and record chronobiological milestones, especially puberty, menstruation, menopause, and season to employ life charting by the patient so that brief recurrences can be identified to emphasize severity rather than dichotomous DSM-IV criteria and to consider well-known confounds such as mood subtype, age, comorbid conditions, and associated medication or substance use. 

Eating and Body Weight Disorders Definitions, Causes, Comorbidities, 839 l.l.lObesity, 839... 

Approximately 1% to 3% of the adult population has either bipolar I or II disorder, but broader definitions suggest prevalence rates up to 5% if the full spectrum of recurrent mood disorders are included. A national comorbidity survey reported that the lifetime prevalence rate of a manic episode is 1.6% 0.3% for men and 1.7% 0.3% for women in the United States (approximately 4 million people). The... 

It has been proposed that the presence of comorbid illness among patients with MCS, CFS, and FM supports a single syndrome hypothesis, i.e., that all are variants of a single functional disorder [79]. This is supported by the nitric oxide/peroxyni-trite hypothesis that has been previously discussed [26, 49-52] and by the shared symptoms in Gulf War veterans [73, 74]. It is argued here, however, that though these illnesses have overlapping symptoms, this hypothesis is yet to be definitively proven. Each of the illnesses has distinct differences from the others and at least one, MCS, demonstrates a resolution of symptoms when exposures to the causative chemicals are eliminated. 

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