Dan G. Blazer, MD, PhD

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• Psychiatry

Department / Division:
Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences / Geriatric Psychiatry

Address:
DUMC 3003
Durham, NC 27710

Appointment Telephone:
919-684-4128

Office Telephone:
919-684-4128

Fax Telephone:
919-684-8569

• MD, University of Tennessee, 1969

• Psychiatry, Duke University Medical Center, 1973-1975

• Consultation Liaison Psychiatry, Montefiore Hospital, New York, 1975-1976

• PhD, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1980

Clinical Interests:
Geriatric psychiatry, mood and anxiety disorders, psychiatry and religion

Research Interests:
I am working on four research projects.  The first, the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (EPESE), included a study demonstrating that sleep complaints are more frequent in white compared to blacks, even when relevant demographic variables are controlled.  In a second study, day-time napping was a significant predictor of mortality.  A third study in the Piedmont of North Carolina revealed no difference in utilization or satisfaction with health services when urban elders were compared with rural elders.  In a fourth study, self-rated health was not as strong a predictor of mortality, as has been found in previous studies, especially when controlling for important covariates.

A second research endeavor has been with the National Comorbidity Study.  I led investigators who demonstrated that the prevalence of major depression is higher than previously estimated in national samples of persons between the ages of eighteen and fifty-five in the community and discussed the methodological issues that may contribute to this differing estimate.  The risk-factor profile of pure major depression was compared with comorbid major depression.  I will continue in this research during 1994/95 to look at Seasonal Affective Disorders (SAD).

I have spent considerable time during 1994/97 working on four books.  I co-edited the second edition of Geriatric Psychiatry, to be published in the late winter of 1994 or early spring of 1995.  I am working on a single author book, Freud vs. God: The End of the Debate/How Psychiatry Lost Its Soul and Christianity Lost Its Mind and on a research methods textbook for clinical psychiatry research.  I have produced a second edition of Emotional Problems in Later Life.

Representative Publications:
Hybels CF, Pieper CF, Blazer DG. Sex differences in the relationship between subthreshold depression and mortality in a community sample of older adults. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2002 May-Jun;10(3):283-91. (2002) Abstract

Fillenbaum GG, Blazer DG, Burchett BM, Saunders AM, Taylor DH Jr. Apolipoprotein E epsilon4 and risk of mortality in African American and white older community residents. Gerontologist. 2002 Jun;42(3):381-6. (2002) Abstract

Connor KM, Davidson JR, Hughes DC, Swartz MS, Blazer DG, George LK. The impact of borderline personality disorder on post-traumatic stress in the community: a study of health status, health utilization, and functioning. Compr Psychiatry. 2002 Jan-Feb;43(1):41-8. (2002) Abstract

Bohannon AD, Fillenbaum GG, Pieper CF, Hanlon JT, Blazer DG. Relationship of race/ethnicity and blood pressure to change in cognitive function. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2002 Mar;50(3):424-9. (2002) Abstract

Blazer DG. Self-efficacy and depression in late life: a primary prevention proposal. Aging Ment Health. 2002 Nov;6(4):315-24. (2002) Abstract

Blazer DG, Moody-Ayers S, Craft-Morgan J, Burchett B. Depression in diabetes and obesity: racial/ethnic/gender issues in older adults. J Psychosom Res. 2002 Oct;53(4):913-6. (2002) Abstract

Blazer DG, Hays JC, Musick MA. Abstinence versus alcohol use among elderly rural Baptists: a test of reference group theory and health outcomes. Aging Ment Health. 2002 Feb;6(1):47-54. (2002) Abstract

Blazer DG, Burchett BB, Fillenbaum GG. APOE epsilon4 and low cholesterol as risks for depression in a biracial elderly community sample. Am J Geriatr Psychiatry. 2002 Sep-Oct;10(5):515-20. (2002) Abstract

Horner RD, Cohen HJ, Blazer DG. Accuracy of self-reported stroke among elderly veterans. Aging Ment Health. 2001 Aug;5(3):275-81. (2001) Abstract

Fillenbaum GG, Landerman LR, Blazer DG, Saunders AM, Harris TB, Launer LJ. The relationship of APOE genotype to cognitive functioning in older African-American and Caucasian community residents. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2001 Sep;49(9):1148-55. (2001) Abstract

Blazer, DG: Life is with people. The Gerontologist. 41:695-698, 2001 (2001)

Blazer DG: Suicide, in Maddox GL (Editor): The Encyclopedia of Aging (Third Edition). New York, Springer, pp. 992, 993, 2001 (2001)

Blazer DG: NIMH Epidemiologic Catchment Area Project, in Maddox GL (Editor): The Encyclopedia of Aging (Third Edition). New York, Springer, pp. 727, 2001 (2001)

Blazer DG: Depression, in Maddox GL (Editor): The Encyclopedia of Aging (Third Edition). New York, Springer, pp. 287-289, 2001 (2001)

Blazer DG, Landerman LR, Hays JC, Grady TA, Havlik R, Corti MC. Blood pressure and mortality risk in older people: comparison between African Americans and whites. J Am Geriatr Soc. 2001 Apr;49(4):375-81. (2001) Abstract

Blazer DG, Hybels CF, Pieper CF. The association of depression and mortality in elderly persons: a case for multiple, independent pathways. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001 Aug;56(8):M505-9. (2001) Abstract

Blazer DG, Fillenbaum G, Burchett B. The APOE-E4 allele and the risk of functional decline in a community sample of African American and white older adults. J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2001 Dec;56(12):M785-9. (2001) Abstract

Blazer DG, Bradford W, Reilly C: Duke's 3rd year: A 35 Year Retrospective. Teaching and Learning in Medicine. 13:192-198, 2001. (2001)