Lina Gega from the Closing the Gap Network explores a recent review of digital technology for health promotion, which looks at opportunities to address excess mortality in people living with severe mental illness.
[read the full story...]Dental visits and head and neck cancer
This review of a link between past dental visits/check-ups and the incidence cancers of head and neck includes 38 studies the majority of which are case-controlled studies. The findings suggest that those are irregular of never attenders are more likely to have head and neck cancer.
[read the full story...]Can we screen-and-treat victims of terror attacks?
Nia Oxbourgh summarises a recent study of the outcomes of mental health screening (the screen and treat programme) for UK nationals affected by the 2015-2016 terrorist attacks in Tunisia, Paris and Brussels.
[read the full story...]Poorer cardiovascular screening, diagnosis and management if you have a mental illness
Joanne Wallace summarises a systematic review that highlights disparities in the management of cardiovascular risk factors in people with mental illness.
[read the full story...]Should we screen new Dads for depression? #DadsMHday
André Tomlin shares his own experiences of being diagnosed with postnatal depression and wonders how we can improve screening for other fathers at risk during the perinatal period.
[read the full story...]School dental screening
This Cochrane review of school dental screening included 6 RCTs finding insufficient evidence that it improves dental attendance. although personalised referral letters or additional motivation elements probably have the ability to improve dental attendance over the short term.
[read the full story...]Two-question screening for depression in older adults
Andrew Sommerlad reviews a new systematic review and meta-analysis and asks: Can two questions identify depression in older people?
This is the second in a new series of Mental Elf blogs produced in partnership with the British Journal of Psychiatry.
[read the full story...]School-based screening for dental disease
This review of school-based screening for dental disease identified 5 cluster trials finding no evidence to support or refute the clinical benefits or harms of dental screening.
[read the full story...]Training alone doesn’t improve outcomes for depression in primary care
Linda Gask writes her debut Mental Elf blog on a recent systematic review, which evaluates healthcare team training programs that aim to improve depression in primary care.
[read the full story...]Whooley questions have high sensitivity and modest specificity in the detection of depression
Ian Anderson on a recent diagnostic accuracy meta-analysis, which shows that the Whooley questions for depression are effective at ruling out the condition, but that false positives are common.
[read the full story...]