Improving mental health pathways and care for adolescents in transition to adult services (IMPACT): a retrospective case note review of social and clinical determinants of transition.

BACKGROUND: Poor transitions to adult care from child and adolescent mental health services may increase the risk of disengagement and long-term negative outcomes. However, studies of transitions in mental health care are commonly difficult to administer and little is known about the determinants of successful transition. The persistence of health inequalities related to access, care, and outcome is now well accepted including the inverse care law which suggests that those most in need of services may be the least likely to obtain them. We sought to examine the pathways and determinants of transition, including the role of social class. METHOD: A retrospective systematic examination of electronic records and case notes of young people eligible to transition to adult care over a 4-year period across five Health and Social Care NHS Trusts in Northern Ireland. RESULTS: We identified 373 service users eligible for transition. While a high proportion of eligible patients made the transition to adult services, very few received an optimal transition process and many dropped out of services or subsequently disengaged. Clinical factors, rather than social class, appear to be more influential in the transition pathway. However, those not in employment, education or training (NEET) were more likely (OR 3.04: 95% CI 1.34, 6.91) to have been referred to Adult Mental Health Services (AMHS), as were those with a risk assessment or diagnosis (OR 4.89: 2.45, 9.80 and OR 3.36: 1.78, 6.34), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the importance of a smoother transition to adult services, surprisingly, few patients experience this. There is a need for stronger standardised policies and guidelines to ensure optimal transitional care to AMHS. The barriers between different arms of psychiatry appear to persist. Joint working and shared arrangements between child and adolescent and adult mental health services should be fostered.

Physical health disparities and severe mental illness: A longitudinal comparative cohort study using hospital data in Northern Ireland.

BACKGROUND: People with severe mental illness (SMI) die prematurely, mostly due to preventable causes. OBJECTIVE: To examine multimorbidity and mortality in people living with SMI using linked administrative datasets. METHOD: Analysis of linked electronically captured routine hospital administrative data from Northern Ireland (2010-2021). We derived sex-specific age-standardised rates for seven chronic life-limiting physical conditions (chronic kidney disease, malignant neoplasms, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, chronic heart failure, myocardial infarction, and stroke) and used logistic regression to examine the relationship between SMI, socio-demographic indicators, and comorbid conditions; survival models quantified the relationship between all-cause mortality and SMI. RESULTS: Analysis was based on 929,412 hospital patients aged 20 years and above, of whom 10,965 (1.3%) recorded a diagnosis of SMI. Higher likelihoods of an SMI diagnosis were associated with living in socially deprived circumstances, urbanicity. SMI patients were more likely to have more comorbid physical conditions than non-SMI patients, and younger at referral to hospital for each condition, than non-SMI patients. Finally, in fully adjusted models, SMI patients had a twofold excess all-cause mortality. CONCLUSION: Multiple morbidities associated with SMI can drive excess mortality. While SMI patients are younger at referral to treatment for these life-limiting conditions, their relatively premature death suggests that these conditions are also quite advanced. There is a need for a more aggressive approach to improving the physical health of this population.

Randomized controlled trial of interventions for young people at ultra-high risk of psychosis: twelve-month outcome.

OBJECTIVE: The ultra-high risk clinical phenotype is associated with substantial distress and functional impairment and confers a greatly enhanced risk for transition to full-threshold psychosis. A range of interventions aimed at relieving current symptoms and functional impairment and reducing the risk of transition to psychosis has shown promising results, but the optimal type and sequence of intervention remain to be established. The aim of this study was to determine which intervention was most effective at preventing transition to psychosis: cognitive therapy plus low-dose risperidone, cognitive therapy plus placebo, or supportive therapy plus placebo. METHOD: A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled 12-month trial of low-dose risperidone, cognitive therapy, or supportive therapy was conducted in a cohort of 115 clients of the Personal Assessment and Crisis Evaluation Clinic, a specialized service for young people at ultra-high risk of psychosis located in Melbourne, Australia. Recruitment commenced in August 2000 and ended in May 2006. The primary outcome measure was transition to full-threshold psychosis, defined a priori as frank psychotic symptoms occurring at least daily for 1 week or more and assessed using the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States. Secondary outcome measures were psychiatric symptoms, psychosocial functioning, and quality of life. RESULTS: The estimated 12-month transition rates were as follows: cognitive therapy + risperidone, 10.7%; cognitive therapy + placebo, 9.6%; and supportive therapy + placebo, 21.8%. While there were no statistically significant differences between the 3 groups in transition rates (log-rank test P = .60), all 3 groups improved substantially during the trial, particularly in terms of negative symptoms and overall functioning. CONCLUSIONS: The lower than expected, essentially equivalent transition rates in all 3 groups fail to provide support for the first-line use of antipsychotic medications in patients at ultra-high risk of psychosis, and an initial approach with supportive therapy is likely to be effective and carries fewer risks.

Randomized controlled trial of interventions for young people at ultra high risk for psychosis: 6-month analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Cognitive therapy and/or low-dose antipsychotic administered during the prodromal phase of schizophrenia may prevent or delay the onset of full-blown illness. However, it is unclear which of these treatments are most effective, how long treatment should be given, and whether effects will be sustained over a prolonged period. METHOD: In order to examine these issues, we conducted a randomized controlled trial of cognitive therapy + risperidone; cognitive therapy + placebo; and supportive therapy + placebo in young people at ultra high risk for developing a psychotic disorder (that is, putatively prodromal). The main outcome was transition to psychotic disorder, with level of symptoms and functioning the secondary outcomes. This article reports the interim 6-month follow-up results. The study was conducted from August 2000 to May 2007. RESULTS: Of a possible 464 eligible ultra high risk individuals, 115 were recruited to the randomized controlled trial (cognitive therapy + risperidone, n = 43; cognitive therapy + placebo, n = 44; and supportive therapy + placebo, n = 28). An additional 78 individuals agreed to follow-up assessments but not to randomization ("monitoring group," n = 78). At 6 months, 8 of the 115 participants (7.0%) and 4 of the monitoring group (5.1%) had developed psychotic disorder. There were no significant differences between the 3 randomized groups (log rank test, P = .92) or between all 4 groups (log rank test, P = .93). There was also no difference between the 4 groups in secondary measures, with all groups showing a reduction in symptoms and increased functioning. CONCLUSIONS: Rates of transition to psychosis were lower than expected, particularly in the control supportive therapy + placebo group. This may have accounted for the negative finding, as the sample was therefore underpowered to find any difference between groups. Alternatively, it may be that all treatments were equally effective or equally ineffective at 6 months. TRIAL REGISTRATION: http://www.anzctr.org.au Identifier: ACTRN012605000247673.

Eye movements and neurocognitive function in treatment resistant schizophrenia: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: It is increasingly important to develop predictors of treatment response and outcome in schizophrenia. Neuropsychological impairments, particularly those reflecting frontal lobe function, appear to predict poor outcome. Eye movement abnormalities probably also reflect frontal lobe deficits. We wished to see if these two aspects of schizophrenia were correlated and whether they could distinguish a treatment resistant from a treatment responsive group. METHODS: Ten treatment resistant schizophrenic patients were compared with ten treatment responsive patients on three eye movement paradigms (reflexive saccades, antisaccades and smooth pursuit), clinical psychopathology (BPRS, SANS and CGI) and a neuropsychological test battery designed to detect frontal lobe dysfunction. Ten aged-matched controls also carried out the eye movement tasks. RESULTS: Both treatment responsive (p = 0.038) and treatment resistant (p = 0.007) patients differed significantly from controls on the antisaccade task. The treatment resistant group had a higher error rate than the treatment responsive group, but the difference was not statistically significant. Similar poor neuropsychological test performance was found in both groups. CONCLUSIONS: To demonstrate the biological differences characteristic of treatment resistance, larger sample sizes and wider differences in outcome between the two groups are necessary.