Early intervention for psychosis: better outcomes in the short term?

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Emanuele Osimo blogs about the 20-year follow up of the OPUS trial, which tested early intervention services for people with first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorder.

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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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Smoking and bipolar disorder: the physical and mental health impact of tobacco cessation

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Hannah Walsh explores the clinical and research implications of this French cohort study on bipolar disorder and smoking status, and how risks differ for current, former and never smokers.

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Minimum unit pricing policy for alcohol saved lives in Scotland according to new research

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Ian Hamilton reviews a new controlled interrupted time series study published in The Lancet evaluating the impact of alcohol minimum unit pricing on deaths and hospitalisations in Scotland.

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Severe mental illness and comorbid chronic physical illness: the clock’s ticking

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In her debut blog, Jodie Ferris summarises a recent cohort study on the temporal relationship between severe mental illness diagnosis and chronic physical comorbidity in the UK, which contains important findings for care and future research.

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The global burden of disease from mental disorders remains high

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Alejandro Arguelles Bullon summarises the latest Global Burden of Disease study (2019) looking at the prevalence, incidence and impact that mental disorders have on our lives, which shows no reduction in the burden over the last 30 years.

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COVID-19 increased depression and anxiety disorders by >25% during 2020

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Dona Matthews summarises a recent study in The Lancet which estimates that worldwide COVID-19 increased depression and anxiety disorders by more than 25% in 2020.

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Ventilator-associated pneumonia: Does toothbrushing with chlorhexidine reduce risk?

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This review of the effect of toothbrushing and chlorhexidine on the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in patients on mechanical ventilation included 7 RCTs. The findings showed that toothbrushing and chlorhexidine reduced VAP,length of stay and duration of ventilation. However the findings should be interpreted cautiously because of study quality.

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Migrants with first episode psychosis are more likely to receive inpatient care, according to new Swedish population study

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In her debut blog, Natasha Chilman blogs about a Swedish cohort study of 1.3 million people, which finds that migrants with first episode psychosis are more likely to receive inpatient care.

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Volunteering in later life: good for our physical health, but more evidence needed on mental health

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Sophie Large summarises a recent Campbell Systematic Review, which explores the impact of volunteering on the physical and mental health of older volunteers.

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