1
ntcRcom
duke uniucRsity mj6icM ccnteR
VOLUME 20. NUMBER 17
APRIL 27. 1973
DURHAM, NORTH CAROLINA
^r. Zung Says Spring
Season for Suicides
For most people "spring fever" means
a joyous, restless time, a renewal of life.
But the poets have long known how
painful spring can be to a man who feels
empty, cold and dead inside.
"April is the cruellest month, breeding
Lilacs out of the dead land, mixing
Memory and desire, stirring
Dull roots with spring rain..."
Now a Duke psychiatrist has come up
with statistical data that tends to support
T.S. Eliot's feeling about April.
Dr. William W. K. Zung has found that
spring is the peak season of the year for
suicides and depression with April the
high month for suicides and March for
depression.
His data on suicides came from the
North Carolina Board of Health and
included all the persons in the state who
killed themselves from 1965 through
1971. The data on depression and other
mental disorders came from records of all
patients admitted on the psychiatry
service at the Durham VA Hospital during
the seven-year period.
Zung, who is a professor of psychiatry
at Duke, is also affiliated with the VA
Hospital.
He presented his findings today at the
annual meeting of the American
Association of Suicidology m Houston,
Tex.
The purpose of his project was to
determine whether the frequency of
suicides and the rate of hospital
admissions for depression have the same
seasonal peaks and lows. Psychiatrists
know that the two populations
overlap—some p>eople who are depressed
commit suicide and some suicidal people
EYE PATHOLOGISTS FOCUS IN-The
medical center was host April 12-14 to
the Eastern Ophthalmic Pathology
Society, which drew participation by eye
pathologists from throughout the eastern
United States, Canada and Puerto Rico.
At the microscope in the foreground is
Dr. Gordon Klintworth, associate
professor of pathology and research
associate in ophthalmology here. (Photo
by Dale Moses)
are depressed.
The object is to try to find differences
and similarities between the two groups
to help identify potential suicide victims
and give them treatment.
The study involved more than 3,600
suicides and approximately the same
number of psychiatric cases.
When the suicides and depression cases
were each plotted by months on a graph,
the two curves were almost identical.
Both phenomena peak in March:April
with a secondary peak in November. Both
suicides and depression cases drop to the
lowest frequency in summer. During the
seven-year period, there were 955 suicides
in spring compared to 896 in summer.
April had 327 suicides while July had the
low of 282.
All the patients admitted to the VA
(Continued on page 2)
PLASTIC SURGEONS MEET HERE—Dr. Nicholas Georgiade, professor of plastic,
maxillofacial and oral surgery (standing), was chairman of a symposium on
Management of the Cleft Lip and Cleft Palate and Associated Deformities here April
12, 13 and 14. The symposium, which drew surgeons from throughout the country,
was sponsored by the Educational Foundation of the American Society of Plastic and
Reconstructive Surgeons, Inc. (Photo by Dale Moses)
Major Medical Educators Recommend
Guaranteed Quality Health Care For All
Twelve outstanding medical educators
are recommending that the federal
government guarantee before the end of
this decade good quality health care to
every American.
The educators also recommend major
changes in the design and scope of
medical education; periodic
recertification of physicians; and the
production by 1985 of 25,000 new
physicians a year to meet the nation's
health needs.
The recommendations are contained
in a book entitled "The Future of
Medical Education" published last week
by the Duke Press. Dr. William G.
Anlyan, vice president for health affairs,
is one of four Duke educators involved
in the writing of the book.
The others are Dr. William D.
Bradford, associate professor of
pathology; Dr. Thomas D. Kinney,
director of medical and -allied health
education; and Dr. Eugene A. Stead,
professor of medicine.
"The main objective of this book is
to redefine the social responsibilities for
medical educators of tomorrow," said
Dr. Mo she Prywes of The Hebrew
University, Jerusalem, in the foreword.
"They are clearly told that if they
continue to disregard the community's
demand for better, cheaper and more
easily accessible health care and do not
educate health professionals who are
aware of their community role, medical
education will not fulfill its
objectives....," he writes.
Work on the book began in 1970,
and each chapter represents hours of
discussion between the chapter author
and the other scientists and
administrators in the group. Each person
in the group was allowed to append
personal comments to the end of each
chapter.
The recommendations at the front of
the volume represent "the consensus of
the coauthors as to the major thrusts of
the document." The major ones include:
—"Before the end of this decade,
good quality care should be universally
guaranteed by federal statute to every
American —not merely planned and
financed but guaranteed."
— "Medical education should be
designed as a true continuum extending
from secondary school through college,
medical school, hospital training and
postgraduate education."
This would include better integration
of medical school curricula with
premedical programs to allow earlier
admission into medical school, and also
further medical center involvement in
residency training and continuing
education for physicians.
—"Funding for medical research and
for the training of investigators in all of
the sciences allied to medicine should be
substantially expanded."
— "Periodic recertification of
physicians and a system of incentives for
continuing education must be
introduced as mechanisms for insuring
the maintenance of a high level of
professional competence."
— "The federal government should
accept ultimate major responsibility for
financing medical education."
—The graduate education of doctors
should be designed to produce specialists
and skills as required by the health care
delivery system.
—By 1985, the U.S. should be able to
produce 25,000 new doctors each year
through "maximum use of facilities and
faculties, adequate financing, shortened
and innovative curricula and a modest
number of new medical schools."
Anlyan, in his introduction to the
volume, says the work is directed to the
"deciders" who will make decisions
(Continued on page 3)
Don't forget to turn your
hourglass ahead Saturday
night. Daylight Saving
Time begins at 2 a.m.
Sunday, April 29.