Dear colleagues,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the third issue of 2018.
In our first article, Rajeswaran and colleagues review the “effects of antidepressant medication on outcome in patients with heart failure and concomitant depression.” Studies indicate that antidepressants are well tolerated in those patients, however there is no significant difference in depressive symptoms between the test and placebo. Antidepressant treatment is not associated with increased mortality rate and the evidence suggests that it does not improve depression or cardiac outcomes.
Fountoulakis et al., assessed “paternal and maternal age as risk factors for schizophrenia.” It emerged that patients with schizophrenia have higher paternal and maternal age. Patients with other mental disorders have only higher paternal age. Their results suggest that advanced paternal age poses as a risk factor for the development of schizophrenia as well as other mental disorders, while increased maternal age has a higher risk in schizophrenia only.
Asif and associates investigated the “gender specific response to antipsychotics and side effects among schizophrenic patients.” They found that males had more accumulative side effects, extrapyramidal symptoms, and other side effects in comparison to females. Males were also poorly adherent to antipsychotic treatment than females. The authors conclude that when prescribing antipsychotics, one should not overlook sex-specific factors.
Costa et al., examined the “predictors of physical activity in patients with schizophrenia.” The best predictors were autonomous motivation and domains of quality of life, which were positively correlated with physical activity per week. Knowledge about these predictors may provide guidance to improve physical activity behaviour in patients with schizophrenia.
Parellada and colleagues assessed the “clinical effectiveness of paliperidone palmitate (PP1M) in patients with schizophrenia.” The findings indicate the that PP1M is effective and well tolerated in acute episodes of schizophrenia both as a monotherapy and as a combination treatment. Early administration of PP1M in acute episodes might shorten hospital stay.
Tasar and associates examined the “prevalence of delirium in relation to mortality rate in geriatric inpatients.” Of 1,435 patients over 65 years of age, the prevalence of delirium was 25.5% with a larger proportion of males. Patients with delirium also had a higher mortality risk. Comorbid diseases were also risk factors for mortality independent of demographic data such as age and gender.
Cerea et al., investigated the “prevalence and phenomenology of body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) and the associated psychological and psychopathological features.” They found that patients with BDD have lower self-esteem, more social anxiety symptomology, general distress, and obsessive-compulsive features than healthy controls.
Aleksovski and colleagues explored the “platelet serotonin content and α2-adrenergic receptors (α2-AR) as a potential biomarker for recurrent major depressive disorder (RDD).” Abnormalities of peripheral α2-AR and serotonin concentrations were detected that were influenced by clinical characteristics of the current episode. The observed abnormalities seem not to be related and are probably triggered by different mechanisms.
Marwaha and associates assessed the “knowledge and views of early intervention for psychosis services (EIS) staff on the assessment and treatment of bipolar disorder (BD).” A total of 85% of the EIS staff believed that BD training is necessary and 78% reported on no clear care packages within the service. The majority also believed that early BD should be treated with EIS only if they suffer from psychosis.
Hessman et al., investigated the “prescription of antipsychotics in association with socio-demographic and clinical status of patients with Alzheimer’s Disease (AD).” Patients with severe dementia received antipsychotics most often as well as patients with depression and those treated by neuropsychiatric specialists were at a higher chance of getting prescribed antipsychotics. Further longitudinal studies are warranted to assess the appropriateness of indications for antipsychotics.
Yours sincerely,
Siegfried Kasper, MD
Chief Editor