Joe Judge appraises a recent systematic review and meta-analysis looking at the duration of untreated psychosis as a predictor of long-term outcomes in schizophrenia.
[read the full story...]
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.
[read the full story...]
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.
[read the full story...]
This new systematic review concludes that exercise programmes can lead to an improvement in exercise activity, but have no significant effect on mental health symptoms or body weight in people with severe mental illness.
[read the full story...]
This recent and well-conducted meta-review concludes that the impact on mortality and suicide of mental disorders is substantial, and probably poorly appreciated as a public health problem. Raphael Underwood’s blog summarises the data for all-cause and suicide mortality in mental disorders.
[read the full story...]
Genome-wide association studies have proved extremely successful in identifying reliable genetic associations with a number of disease outcomes, but until now studies of psychiatric outcomes have lagged behind. This latest schizophrenia study is therefore an important advance.
[read the full story...]
People diagnosed with schizophrenia are 7.4 times more likely to be convicted of violent offences, 8.1 times more likely to die prematurely, and 20.7 times more likely to kill themselves.
[read the full story...]
John Baker reports on the first population based report of the positive effects of antipsychotic medication and mood stabilisers on reducing the risk of a conviction for violent crime, published in the Lancet in May.
[read the full story...]
The MATISSE trial in 2012 concluded that group art therapy did no better than standard care at improving symptoms for people with schizophrenia. A new critique of that RCT from the British Association of Art Therapists says the therapy can be more useful.
[read the full story...]
Raphael Underwood reports on routinely collected data from the Scottish Morbidity Record, which suggests that 1 in 8 people with first-ever diagnosed acute and transient psychotic disorders will develop schizophrenia within 3–5 years. Researchers conclude that those at high risk of transition may benefit from monitoring for possible diagnostic change.
[read the full story...]
