Rodolfo Furlan Damiano

• Doctor of Medicine
• PostDoc Position at University of São Paulo

Objective: We aim to create a web-based calculator for assessing depressive symptoms with the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9), utilizing IRT-based standardized scores, to improve measurement precision, standardization, and practical application in clinical practice. Methods: This study developed a web-based calculator using a graded respo...

Cognitive impairment and symptoms of psychiatric disorders have been reported frequently as features of post‐acute sequelae of SARS‐CoV‐2 infection. This study aims to investigate subjective memory complaints in COVID‐19 survivors and determine if these are more strongly associated with objective cognitive impairment related to sequelae of SARS‐CoV...

Cognitive impairment and symptoms of psychiatric disorders have been reported frequently as features of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study aims to investigate subjective memory complaints in COVID-19 survivors and determine if these are more strongly associated with objective cognitive impairment related to sequelae of SARS-CoV...

The aim of this study is to perform an explorative analysis of potential risk and protective factors for overt and covert suicidal behaviors in a large sample of subjects with Impulse Control Disorder (ICD) and to assess the association between both domains. This is a cross-sectional study with all patients looking for treatment for any ICD, betwee...

The present article aims to describe the different steps on how to design, develop and conduct quantitative and qualitative Spirituality and Health (S/H) studies from a Brazilian perspective, discussing definitions and instruments, and proposing a “how-to guide” for those interested in this field of research. A narrative review of the literature ha...

Background: Anxiety is a common and disabling condition that significantly impacts quality of life. Subsyndromal anxiety (SSA) refers to anxiety symptoms that do not meet the full diagnostic criteria for an anxiety disorder but pose a risk for developing such disorders. We aimed to provide practical recommendations for the treatment of SSA in prim...

Background: Depression is a leading cause of disability globally, necessitating precise assessment tools. The Patient Health Questionnaire 9-item version (PHQ-9) is widely used for this purpose but relies on sum scores, limiting its accuracy and comparability with other tools. Item Response Theory (IRT) offers a more nuanced approach by weighting i...

A espiritualidade tem sido reconhecida como fator importante para a saúde e para o bemestar. Embora seja uma experiência pessoal e única para cada indivíduo, não necessariamente vinculada a religião, muitas pessoas encontram benefícios físicos, mentais e emocionais ao cultivá-la. Fato é que ela pode ajudar no encontro do propósito e de significado...

Objective: The aims of this study are to investigate the trajectory of positive attributes from childhood to early adulthood and to explore how those trajectories can be modified by two domains of childhood adversity – threat and deprivation. Methods: A large prospective school-based community cohort of youths (n=2,511, 6-14 years of age, 45% femal...

High rates of co-occurrence of mental disorders have been hypothesized to represent a result of common susceptibility to overall psychopathology. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that commonalities among psychiatric disorders might be partially driven by sharable perinatal and neonatal environmental factors for mental disorders....

Introduction: Post-COVID-19 condition (PCC) is characterised by a plethora of symptoms, with fatigue appearing as the most frequently reported. The alterations that drive both the persistent and post-acute disease newly acquired symptoms are not yet fully described. Given the lack of robust knowledge regarding the mechanisms of PCC we have examined...

Introduction Post-COVID-19 condition (PCC) is characterised by a plethora of symptoms, with fatigue appearing as the most frequently reported. The alterations that drive both the persistent and post-acute disease newly acquired symptoms are not yet fully described. Given the lack of robust knowledge regarding the mechanisms of PCC we have examined...

Compreender o suicídio é uma tarefa complexa. Diversos especialistas do mundo inteiro e das mais diversas áreas têm se debruçado no entendimento deste fenômeno, o qual desafia a cultura de todos os povos desde o início da humanidade. Os autores trazem ao leitor um pouco de suas experiências na compreensão dos fatores que levam uma pessoa a cometer...

Recent studies have reported positive effects of Intermittent Fasting (IF) on metabolic parameters, cognition, and mood. However, regarding depressive symptoms, the effect of IF is not clear. The purpose of this review was to assess the available evidence on IF interventions for depression in both clinical and preclinical studies. Of the 23 include...

Objective To analyze the potential impact of sociodemographic, clinical and biological factors on the long-term cognitive outcome of patients who survived moderate and severe forms of COVID-19. Methods We assessed 710 adult participants (Mean age = 55 ± 14; 48.3% were female) 6 to 11 months after hospital discharge with a complete cognitive batter...

Objective: To provide practical norms for measuring depressive symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9) in Brazil using a state-of-art psychometrics analysis. Methods: We used a large and representative Brazilian dataset from the 'Pesquisa Nacional de Saúde - 2019'(PNS-2019), which includes 90,846 Brazilian citizens. First, to a...

High rates of co-occurrence of mental disorders have been hypothesized to represent a result of common susceptibility to overall psychopathology. The purpose of this study is to test the hypothesis that commonalities among psychiatric disorders might be partially driven by shared perinatal and neonatal environmental factors for mental disorders. Pa...

The aim of this study was to determine whether Post-acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC) are associated with physical inactivity in COVID-19 survivors. This is a cohort study of COVID-19 survivors discharged from a tertiary hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Patients admitted as inpatients due to laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 between March and...

Love, compassion and related constructs have drawn to much attention from the general public due to the increased need of a better and more humanistic medical care. However, those constructs have been constantly neglected in academic benches and high impact research journals due to the 'abstract' and 'non-measurable' nature of these constructs. At...

Objective: To re-evaluate a sample of older adults enrolled in a randomized controlled trial (RCT) using lithium for treatment of amnestic mild-cognitive impairment (MCI) after 11 to 15 years, by re-assessing their current (or last available) global cognitive and functional state. Methods: We recalled all former participants of the 'Lithium-MCI'...

Refugees are individuals who live outside of their country and are at increased risk of mental health problems. Even though many papers assessed Refugees’ mental health, few intended to evaluate in remote areas, such as refugee camps. On this study we assessed 102 individuals who lives in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp – Malawi. We found 78% of individua...

Background: Sociodemographic and environmental factors are associated with incidence, severity, and mortality of COVID-19. However, little is known about the role of such factors in persisting symptoms among recovering patients. We designed a cohort study of hospitalized COVID-19 survivors to describe persistent symptoms and identify factors assoc...

Individuals with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) more often think about, attempt, and die by suicide than individuals from the general population. Sexual and religious obsessions (i.e., taboo obsessions) have been linked to increased risk of suicidality, but it is unclear if they explain additional risk over and above other risk factors. We ref...

Preliminary methodologically limited studies suggested that taste and smell known as chemosensory impairments and neuropsychiatric symptoms are associated in post-COVID-19. The objective of this study is to evaluate whether chemosensory dysfunction and neuropsychiatric impairments in a well-characterized post-COVID-19 sample. This is a cohort study...

The aim of this study was to determine whether Post-acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 Infection (PASC) are associated with physical inactivity in COVID-19 survivors. This is a cohort study of COVID-19 survivors discharged from a tertiary hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Patients admitted as inpatients due to laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 between March and...

Background Despite the multitude of clinical manifestations of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC), studies applying statistical methods to directly investigate patterns of symptom co-occurrence and their biological correlates are scarce. Methods We assessed 30 symptoms pertaining to different organ systems in 749 adults (age = 55 ±...

Recently, much attention has been drawn to the importance of the impact of infectious disease on human cognition. Several theories have been proposed, to explain the cognitive decline following an infection as well as to understand better the pathogenesis of human dementia, especially Alzheimer’s disease. This article aims to review the state of th...

Objective The present study aims to investigate the occurrence of psychiatric and cognitive impairments in a cohort of survivors of moderate or severe forms of COVID-19. Method 425 adults were assessed 6 to 9 months after hospital discharge with a structured psychiatric interview, psychometric tests and a cognitive battery. A large, multidisciplin...

Compreender o suicídio é, primeiramente, compreender nossas próprias limitações. Saber que o conhecimento é limitado diante de fatos tão complexos pode causar medo e afastamento, entretanto, o objetivo aqui é o oposto: acolhimento e proximidade. A medicina, a ciência biológica, a filosofia, a sociologia, a cultura, a espiritualidade e a psicologia...

Objective: To investigate the definitions of spirituality in the healthcare field, identifying its main dimensions and proposing a framework that operationalizes the understanding of this concept. Methods: This is a systematic review following the PRISMA guideline (PROSPERO: CRD42021262091), searching for spirituality definitions published in scien...

This is a case description of a patient with clozapine and ECT resistance schizophrenia with several suicide attempts. We discussed evidence-based clinical decisions to deal with such conditions.

Objective: It is not uncommon for medical residents to deal with critically ill patients who frequently show several ethical and human dilemmas, highlighting the need for a consultation with ethical specialists. The objective of this article is to present a description of a Brazilian Ethics Consultation group designed to attend psychiatry resident...

Over the past few decades, research about the impact of religion and spirituality (R/S) on health has grown considerably. Mental health was a major area of focus in this field, producing solid evidence for the impact of R/S on quality of life, wellness, depression, anxiety, substance use disorder, and other mental health issues. To date, a large nu...

Introduction COVID-19 may lead to persistent and potentially incapacitating clinical manifestations (post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC)). Using easy-to-apply questionnaires and scales (often by telephone interviewing), several studies evaluated samples of COVID-19 inpatients from 4 weeks to several months after discharge. However, s...

Psychotic experiences are common experiences shared by a considerable part of the world's population. Moreover, most of the individuals who report these experiences also report those called spiritual and dissociative phenomena. In specific culture and religious backgrounds, these experiences are frequently seen as a part of normal human experiences...

Objective: To review the most common mental health strategies aimed at alleviating and/or preventing mental health problems in individuals during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and other coronavirus pandemics. Methods: We conducted a systematic review of the literature assessing three databases (PubMed, SCOPUS, and PsycINFO). A meta-analy...

Recent correspondence letters to the editor of this journal pointed out to the need of implementing psychological support during the pandemic and post-pandemic period to both general and frontline workers. Especially, they highlighted the importance of religious/spiritual interventions in order to provide an integral and holistic care. In this pers...

Objectives: To investigate the most common sources of stress faced by medical students and the degree to which different stressors impact their lives. As a secondary objective, a new instrument, Medical Student Stress Factor Scale (MSSF), was developed based on these stressors. Methods: The MSSF was applied to 431 medical students. The Depression,...

Introdução: Paralelamente ao avanço da interface “Saúde e espiritualidade” (E/R) no campo de pesquisa, há um crescimento no ensino dessa temática em universidades brasileiras e internacionais. Objetivo: O objetivo desse estudo é fornecer um panorama do ensino de temas relacionados a “saúde e espiritualidade” na graduação em saúde no mundo, com part...

Background Although learning environment (LE) is an important component of medical training, there are few instruments to investigate LE in Latin American and Brazilian medical schools. Therefore, this study aims to translate, adapt transculturally, and validate the Medical School Learning Environment Scale (MSLES) and the Johns Hopkins Learning En...

Research on spirituality, religion and health has been growing considerably when analyzing the last 20 years. Much of this research concerns to patients’ opinions and desires on medical treatment, specifically concerning the inclusion of patients’ spiritual/religious issues and how it can influence the health outcome. However, there is still a lack...

Objective: We sought to understand the landscape of published articles regarding medical schools' learning environments (LE) worldwide, with an explicit focus on potentially harmful aspects of the LE as an effort to identify areas specifically in need of remediation or intervention that could prevent future unprofessional behaviors, burnout, viole...

This book provides an overview of the research on spirituality, religiousness and health, including the most important studies, conceptualization, instruments for measurement, types of studies, challenges, and criticisms. It covers essential information on the influence of spirituality and religiousness (S/R) in mental and physical health, and prov...

Objective: We sought to understand the landscape of published articles regarding medical schools’ learning environments (LE) worldwide, with an explicit focus on potentially negative aspects of the LE as an effort to identify areas specifically in need of remediation or intervention that could prevent future unprofessional behaviours, burnout, viol...

Background: Medical education research requires the use of several different instruments with dozens of items that evaluate each construct separately, making their application slow and increasing the likelihood of students providing a large number of incomplete or missing responses. To provide an alternative measure, this study aims to translate,...

Objective: This study aimed to compare mental health, quality of life, empathy, and burnout in medical students from a medical institution in the USA and another one in Brazil. Methods: This cross-cultural study included students enrolled in the first and second years of their undergraduate medical training. We evaluated depression, anxiety, and...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of spirituality, religiosity, personal beliefs, and previous contact with health issues on the level of empathy in medical students. Jefferson Scale of Empathy-Student Version, WHOQOL-Spirituality, Religiousness and Personal Beliefs, and Duke University Religion Index were applied to 285 Br...

Theory: Empathy is one component of medical student education that may be important to nurture, but there are many potential psychological barriers to empathy, such as student depression, burnout, and low quality of life or wellness behaviors. However, few studies have addressed how positive behaviors such as wellness and spirituality, in combinat...

This study aims to conduct a search of publications investigating experiences commonly associated with the possibility of the existence of a consciousness independent of the brain held on the main scientific databases (Pubmed, Web of Knowledge, PsycINFO, Science Direct, and Scopus). Of the 9065 articles retrieved, 1954 were included (598 near-death...

Neste trabalho, diversos autores se juntam em prol do mesmo objetivo: a humanização da educação médica. Médicos, estudantes de medicina, psicólogos, professores unviersitários e profissionais deoutras áreas como enfermagem, sociologia e filosofia,transmitem seu ponto de vista acerca de problemas inerentes ao ensino universitário tradicional, propon...

Background Studies on “Spirituality, religion and health” (R/S) have been increasing worldwide, including in Brazil. Mapping this production can help researchers to understand this field and also to identify gaps in the Brazilian R/S studies. Objective To analyze the Brazilian scientific articles on “Religion, Spirituality and Health” available on...

Background: The frequently observed stress of medical students worldwide leads them to have psychic suffering often leading to illness. Minor psychic disorders such as anxiety, depression and burnout, have a higher prevalence in these students than in the rest of random population. Different initiatives were tried to minimize the deleterious effec...

Este trabalho é um relato de experiência do primeiro ano de funcionamento do Grupo de Apoio ao Primeiranista (GAP). O GAP é um grupo desenvolvido por alunos de Medicina de uma universidade privada do Estado de São Paulo, apoiado por sua direção, com o intuito de amparar e humanizar a recepção aos ingressantes. O início das atividades do GAP ocorreu...

Introdução: O câncer de mama é o segundo tipo de câncer mais frequente do mundo, só perdendo para o câncer de pulmão. O mau prognóstico do câncer de mama está muito associado aos subtipos moleculares que ele apresenta. Os tumores triplo-negativos, são uma classe muito peculiar, por serem de um pior prognóstico e não apresentarem drogas específicas...