Liz Hughes summarises two recent studies (1 systematic review and 1 RCT) that both investigate brief interventions for reducing the use of benzodiazepines in primary care.
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Laurence Palfreyman summarises 3 recent Cochrane reviews, which investigate high-potency versus low-potency first-generation antipsychotic drugs for schizophrenia. The reviews find little difference in efficacy between the high-potency antipsychotics Trifluoperazine, Haloperidol, Fluphenazine, and low-potency typical antipsychotics.
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André Tomlin summarises the second National Audit of Schizophrenia, which highlights that many people with schizophrenia are still not getting the high quality psychological and medical treatment they deserve.
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Andrés Fonseca appraises a new systematic review of interventions for treatment-resistant anxiety in older people, which finds a disconcerting lack of evidence to help him support the many older patients he sees who are affected by anxiety disorders.
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Laurence Palfreyman highlights a recent BMJ study, which finds an association between Alzheimer’s disease and benzodiazepine use.
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Chris Sampson reports on a recent systematic review and critical appraisal of economic evaluations in bipolar disorder. He finds that there’s a pressing need for new studies, especially discrete event simulations.
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Chris Pell summarises a recent meta-analysis of prevalence estimates and moderators of low bone mass in people with schizophrenia. The study finds a significantly increased risk of osteoporosis in people with schizophrenia.
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Olivia Maynard summarises a new BMJ modelling study on the potential benefits of minimum unit pricing (MUP) for alcohol versus a ban on below cost selling (BBCS). The research concludes that MUP would reduce deaths attributable to alcohol by 40 times more than BBCS.
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Matt Field reviews the recent cross-sectional survey of e-cigarettes and conventional cigarette use in US adolescents, which found that E-Cig users were more likely to also smoke regular cigarettes than non-users. Does this mean that E-cigarettes encourage the use of conventional cigarettes?
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Andrew Shepherd summarises an ethnography from the United States, which explores the relationships between Prison Officers in Correctional Institutions and Prisoners with mental health problems.
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