Less Medication Use in Inpatients With Severe Mental Illness Receiving a Multidisciplinary Lifestyle Enhancing Treatment. The MULTI Study III

Besides having an unhealthy lifestyle contributing to premature mortality, inpatients with severe mental illness (SMI) use high dosages of medication. Previous research has shown improved health after lifestyle improvements in SMI. In addition, we aimed to retrospectively study whether a multidisciplinary lifestyle enhancing treatment (MULTI) was associated with changes in medication use after 18 months, as compared with patients that continued treatment as usual (TAU) and explored mediation by a change in physical activity. We conducted an observational study within a cohort of inpatients with SMI, who received MULTI (N = 65) or continued TAU (N = 49). Data on their somatic and psychotropic medications were collected, converted into defined daily dose (DDD), and analyzed using linear multilevel regression, correcting for baseline value and differences between groups in age, diagnosis, and illness severity. Compared with TAU, the DDD for psychotropic medication significantly decreased with MULTI (B = −0.55, P = 0.02). Changes in total activity did not mediate this association, suggesting that multiple components of MULTI contributed. Corrected between-group analyses for subgroups of medication were not possible due to lack of power and skewed distributions. Within-group data showed a decreased proportion of users as well as median DDD in both groups for almost all medications. In addition to previously reported health improvements after 18 months of MULTI, we observed a significant decrease in dose of psychotropic medication in MULTI compared to TAU. This first study evaluating a wide range of medications indicates a possible effect of lifestyle improvements on medication use in inpatients with SMI. Findings need to be confirmed in future controlled studies, however

Evaluating the implementation of a multidisciplinary lifestyle intervention for people with severe mental illness in sheltered housing:effectiveness-implementation hybrid randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: Lifestyle interventions can improve health-related outcomes for people with severe mental illness (SMI), but few studies evaluate this potential in everyday settings. After a successful approach in routine inpatient mental healthcare (MULTI), we sought to replicate this multidisciplinary lifestyle-enhancing support in people with SMI living in sheltered housing (MULTI_sh). AIMS: To evaluate the effectiveness and implementation of MULTI_sh (trial registration: NCT03157557). METHOD: In an effectiveness-implementation hybrid cluster-randomised controlled trial, six municipalities with sheltered housing facilities in The Netherlands were randomly assigned to MULTI_sh ( n = 3) or treatment as usual (TAU, n = 3). After 12 months, we evaluated effects on metabolic health, sedentary behaviour/physical activity (ActiGraph GT3X+), quality of life (EuroQol 5D, WHOQoL-Bref) and psychopathology (Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale Expanded Version) using multiple regression, adjusting for baseline values and municipalities (intention to treat and per protocol). In addition, implementation fidelity and barriers/facilitators were evaluated (Measurement Instrument for Determinants of Innovation). RESULTS: Of 177 eligible patients, 74 (42%) could be included in the analyses. Health outcomes did not substantially improve with MULTI_sh ( n = 45) compared with TAU ( n = 29). MULTI_sh was not implemented as intended. Most patients and all healthcare professionals believed that patients' lifestyle should be part of treatment, but implementation was primarily (in)directly hindered by organisational factors (e.g. staff shortages, complexity of participation, lack of time and difficulty getting patients involved). CONCLUSIONS: MULTI_sh was not implemented as intended and no clinical health improvements were found. Organisations are decisive in the success or failure of the implementation of lifestyle interventions for people with SMI. More intensive implementation strategies on this level are warranted in sheltered housing

TARDIVE DYSKINESIA: CLINICAL PRESENTATION AND TREATMENT

Tardive dyskinesia (TD) is a common and potentially irreversible side effect of dopamine blocking agents, most often antipsychotics. It is often socially and sometimes also physically disabling. The clinical picture can be divided into orofacial, limb-truncal, and respiratory dyskinesia. The clinical options to prevent or mitigate TD include psychoeducation, systematic screening, and evaluation of the need for antipsychotics and/or dosages, managementof known risk factors, and switching to an antipsychotic with a lower risk of TD. There is no evidence-based approach for treating existing TD but several clinical interventions can be effective including discontinuing the antipsychotics or reducing the dosage, switching to clozapine, adding an antidyskinetic agent, or applying deep brain stimulation

Incidence and persistence of tardive dyskinesia and extrapyramidal symptoms in schizophrenia

Although it has been suggested that second-generation antipsychotics (SGA) may reduce the rate of prevalent tardive dyskinesia (TD), little is known about the incidence and outcome of TD in those exposed exclusively to SGA. The incidence and subsequent persistence of TD and extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) was calculated in a cohort of patients with schizophrenia treated predominantly with SGA. This cohort of more than 10,000 patients with schizophrenia was seen six times over a period of two years. Dichotomous measures of EPS and TD were used to calculate the yearly incidence rates of TD and EPS as well as their subsequent cumulative persistence rate in a subset of 9104 and 6285 patients at risk for TD and EPS, respectively. Of 9104 individuals who did not present with TD at baseline, 138 developed TD, yielding a TD incidence rate of 0.74% (95% CI: 0.62, 0.87) and a subsequent cumulative persistence rate of 80%. Of 6285 individuals without EPS at baseline, 464 developed EPS yielding an incidence rate of 3.7% (95% CI: 3.4, 4.0) and a subsequent cumulative persistence rate of 82%. Incidence rates of TD and EPS may be low in the SGA era. However, once emerged, these disorders prove persistent, suggesting strong moderators effects of underlying predisposing factors

Exploring the Relationship Between Movement Disorders and Physical Activity in Patients With Schizophrenia:An Actigraphy Study

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The effect on relapse rate and psychiatric symptomatology:Switching a combination of first- and second-generation antipsychotic polypharmacy to antipsychotic monotherapy in long-term inpatients with schizophrenia and related disorders. A pragmatic randomized open-label trial (SwAP trial)

BACKGROUND: There is little evidence to support the use of antipsychotic polypharmacy, and there are concerns about safety and side effects. Nonetheless, it is commonly used in the treatment of long-term inpatients with schizophrenia. This study investigated the effects of switching from a combination of first- and second-generation antipsychotics (FGA and SGA) to monotherapy (FGA or SGA) on relapse rates and psychiatric symptomatology. METHODS: Institutionalized patients with chronic psychotic disorders using a combination of SGA and FGA (n = 136) participated in a randomized open-label trial. The SWITCH group discontinued either FGA or SGA, the STAY group continued combination treatment. Relapse and psychotic symptoms were measured at baseline and during follow-up at 3, 6, and 9 months. Psychiatric symptomatology was measured using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS). Relapse was defined as (i) an increase in BPRS score of at least 2 points on any item, or (ii) an increase of at least 4 points in total BPRS score and an adjustment of antipsychotics. RESULTS: A logistic regression model, corrected for sex, showed that the probability of relapse was significantly lower in the SWITCH group: 0.29 (95% CI 0.13-0.62). The protective effect of switching to monotherapy was attributable to patients continuing clozapine as monotherapy. For patients who did not experience a relapse nor dropped out, BPRS total scores decreased significantly more in the SWITCH group (p = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: Switching from a combination of FGA and SGA to monotherapy in long-term inpatients does not increase the relapse rate and may even reduce it

Instrumental measurements of spontaneous dyskinesia and schizotypy in subjects with auditory verbal hallucinations and healthy controls

Spontaneous dyskinesia is associated with non-affective psychosis. Few studies investigated dyskinesia in individuals with subclinical psychotic experiences. We examined dyskinesia using instrumental measurements of force variability in 34 individuals with frequent auditory verbal hallucinations but without a clinical psychotic disorder and 31 matched healthy controls. Schizotypy was assessed using the Schizotypal Personality Questionnaire. We found a positive correlation between dyskinesia and schizotypy in the total group. In addition, when using a cut-off point based on the 95th percentile of force variability in the control group, we found a greater proportion of subjects with dyskinesia in the group with auditory verbal hallucinations than in the control subjects. Current findings are in agreement with the concept of psychosis as a continuous phenomenon and with movement disorders being an integral part of psychosis

Efficacy and Safety of Deep Brain Stimulation in Patients With Medication-Induced Tardive Dyskinesia and/or Dystonia: A Systematic Review

Background: Tardive dyskinesia and dystonia (TDD) are severe side effects of dopamine-blocking agents, particularly antipsychotics. While deep brain stimulation (DBS) has proven effective in the treatment of TDD, little is known about the possible psychiatric complications of DBS in psychiatric patients. Objective: To assess the efficacy and safety, specifically the psychiatric side effects, of DBS in patients with medication-induced TDD. Data Sources: PubMed and EMBASE databases were searched systematically on May 25, 2011, for articles written in English, using the search terms deep brain stimulation AND tardive. Study Selection: Of the 88 original articles retrieved, 17 studies involving 50 patients with TDD who underwent DBS were included in the review. Data Extraction: Data on the severity of the movement disorders before and after DBS, as rated on the Burke-Fahn-Marsden Dystonia Rating Scale or similar scales, were extracted. Data on psychiatric symptoms before and after DBS were used to calculate the percent improvement per patient per rating scale. Overall improvement and confidence intervals were calculated using a 1-sample, 2-sided Student t test. Results: The mean improvement of TDD of the combined patients 3 to 76 months after implantation was 77.5% (95% CI, 71.4%-83.3%; P <.000) on the Burke-Fahn-Marsden Dystonia Rating Scale. Of the 50 patients, 1 experienced an exacerbation of depression, and 1 experienced an exacerbation of psychosis. Conclusions: DBS seems to be effective and relatively safe for patients with treatment-resistant TDD; however, the results should be interpreted with caution, as most of the data are from case reports and small trials. J Clin Psychiatry 2012;73(11):1434-1438 (c) Copyright 2012 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc