Many causes of death among people with bipolar disorder are potentially preventable

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Anneka Tomlinson and Andrea Cipriani from the University of Oxford co-write this important blog on causes of mortality among those with bipolar disorder, highlighting the importance of suicide prevention across age groups.

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Mental health: at what cost?

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In their debut Mental Elf blog, Martin Knapp and Gloria Wong summarise a systematic review of cost-of-illness studies, which explores the distribution of the costs between different mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions.

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We know how to reduce premature deaths from co-morbid mental health and substance use problems, so why aren’t we doing anything about it?

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Ian Hamilton looks at a Swedish 42-year follow-up study, which looks at the impact that psychiatric comorbidity can have on premature death in a cohort of patients with substance use disorders.

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Life expectancy in schizophrenia and years of potential life lost

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Joanne Wallace summarises a recent systematic review and meta-analysis that reinforces the urgent call for better interventions to address the causes of premature death in schizophrenia.

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Bipolar disorder in older men linked to increased risk of dementia

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Elena Marcus presents a recent study that shows how older Australian men with bipolar disorder have an increased risk of dementia and early death.

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Confidential Inquiry into premature deaths WeLD Nurses tweet chat with authors and the LD Elf

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Following our recent post on what has happened since the publication of the CIPOLD Confidential Inquiry report, we joined a tweet chat hosted by WeLDNurses with two of the report’s authors: Pauline Heslop and Matt Hoghton.

It was a really lively hour with some fantastic contributions. Here we present a summary of the comments with some links to information that was mentioned during the chat itself.

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Premature deaths of people with learning disabilities – reflections on Department of Health progress report

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The Government progress report on the Confidential Inquiry into Premature Deaths of People with Learning Disabilities was published last week. In this blog, Pauline Heslop and colleagues who wrote the original Confidential Inquiry, reflect on the progress that has been made and what still needs to be done.

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“Commissioners should ensure sustained and effective delivery of children’s palliative care” says guide

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Clinical Commissioning Groups, hospices, patients, carers, and all staff who provide palliative care to children. This short guide has been written for Clinical Commissioning Groups, hospices, patients, carers, and all staff who provide palliative care to children. Commissioners need to be aware that palliative care for children is very different to palliative care for adults, [read the full story…]

We're failing people with learning disabilities – and they're dying younger

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By Pauline Heslop, University of Bristol People with learning disabilities die significantly younger in England and Wales than people without learning disabilities. Men with learning disabilities die 13 years earlier on average and 20 years earlier for women compared to the general population. And people with learning disabilities are two and a half times more [read the full story…]

Ombudsman finds service failures once again in report on death of young woman with learning disabilities

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As you know here at Elf towers, we are committed to bringing you the evidence, so that you can make informed decisions about practice. However I hope you’ll forgive a slight deviation from this aim this Friday, as we bring to your attention the publication of yet another report that highlights poor NHS care. On [read the full story…]