Approaching differential diagnosis and decisional capacity assessment in the context of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs: A narrative review and clinical discussion.

OBJECTIVE: COVID-19 conspiracy theories have become widespread since the onset of the pandemic and compound the existing challenges of decisional capacity assessment. This paper aims to review the literature pertaining to decisional capacity assessment in the context of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs and synthesize a practical approach with an emphasis on differential diagnosis and clinical pearls for the practicing physician. METHODS: We reviewed papers on decisional capacity assessment and differential diagnosis in the context of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. A literature search was conducted using the US National Library of Medicine's PubMed.gov resource and Google Scholar. RESULTS: The resulting article content was utilized to synthesize a practical approach to decisional capacity assessment in the context of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. Specifically, aspects related to the history, taxonomy, evaluation, and management are reviewed. CONCLUSIONS: Appreciating the nuanced differences between delusions, overvalued ideas, and obsessions while with integrating the non-cognitive domains of capacity into the assessment are crucial to navigating the wide differential diagnosis of COVID-19 conspiracy beliefs. It is important to attempt to clarify and optimize patient decision-making abilities by addressing circumstances, attitudes, and cognitive styles specific to patients with seemingly irrational beliefs about COVID-19.

Olanzapine Pharmacokinetics: A Clinical Review of Current Insights and Remaining Questions.

Olanzapine is one of the most widely used antipsychotics since its initial approval by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1996 and has undergone extensive pharmacokinetic study. Despite being utilized in clinical psychiatry for decades, there remain questions regarding the variety of available formulations, the utility of therapeutic drug monitoring, altered kinetic properties in special populations/medical illnesses, the use of high-dose olanzapine, and drug interactions, among many others. We performed a narrative literature review of olanzapine pharmacokinetics in June 2023 using the US National Library of Medicine's PubMed.gov resource (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed) and Google Scholar. Herein, we review clinically relevant aspects of olanzapine pharmacokinetic data while highlighting knowledge gaps and potential areas of future study.

Association Among Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease Severity, Exacerbation Risk, and Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in the SPIROMICS Cohort.

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common, progressive lung disease that often manifests with psychiatric symptoms. Despite this, patients with COPD are not routinely screened for anxiety and depression, which substantially contribute to COPD-related morbidity. OBJECTIVE: To determine the relationship among COPD symptom severity, exacerbation risk, and clinically significant anxiety and depression symptoms in ever smokers with COPD. METHODS: We used baseline data from the Subpopulations and Intermediate Outcome Measures In COPD Study (SPIROMICS) cohort to examine ever smokers with COPD across Global Initiative for Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) disease severity groups. Multivariable logistic regression models were used to calculate odds ratios for clinically significant anxiety and depression for each GOLD group, which was compared to the control group of ever smokers without COPD. Odds ratios were adjusted for subject demographics, medical comorbidities, and substance use covariates, and comparisons were completed using 2-tailed tests. RESULTS: Of the 2664 subjects studied, 784 (29.4%) had clinically significant anxiety, and 497 (18.7%) had clinically significant depression. In the multivariable analysis, high pulmonary symptom groups, groups B and D, had increased adjusted odds of clinically significant anxiety (group B: adjusted odds ratios [AOR] 1.28, P = 0.03; group D: AOR 1.95, P < 0.0001) and depression (group B: AOR 2.09, P < 0.0001; group D: AOR 3.04, P < 0.0001). GOLD group D, the group with high pulmonary symptoms and high COPD exacerbation risk, had the greatest risk of both anxiety and depression among the GOLD groups. CONCLUSIONS: High COPD symptom severity, even in the absence of elevated COPD exacerbation risk, is associated with clinically significant anxiety and depression. Our separate analyses of anxiety and depression symptoms in a large, multisite, national cohort are unique within the literature and have important treatment implications for COPD patients. Our findings also highlight the utility of screening patients with high COPD symptom severity for anxiety and depression.

Olanzapine-samidorphan combination tablets for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder - what is it, and will it be used?

INTRODUCTION: Although olanzapine remains one of the most efficacious antipsychotic medications for the treatment of schizophrenia, there are significant tolerability concerns related to its weight and metabolic profile. Olanzapine-samidorphan combination tablets (OLZ/SAM), branded as Lybalvi, is a newly FDA approved formulation aimed at attenuating antipsychotic induced weight gain via modulation of the endogenous opioid system with samidorphan, while retaining the robust antipsychotic efficacy of olanzapine. AREAS COVERED: We reviewed the published literature of OLZ/SAM for the management of schizophrenia using the US National Library of Medicine's PubMed.gov resource. Topics covered in this narrative review include the pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, efficacy, and tolerability of OLZ/SAM. EXPERT OPINION: OLZ/SAM is an effective and well-tolerated pharmacologic option in mitigating olanzapine induced weight gain while retaining olanzapine's efficacy. OLZ/SAM cumulatively tends to attenuate weight gain rather than promote weight loss. Effect on metabolic laboratory variables appears limited. Additional research will be needed to determine its effectiveness compared to alternative strategies to attenuate antipsychotic induced weight gain.

A Clinical Review of the Psychiatric Sequelae of Primary Hyperparathyroidism.

Despite one-quarter of patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) experiencing psychiatric symptoms, there remains a dearth of literature regarding the diagnosis and further management of psychiatric sequelae in PHPT. We aim to review the literature pertaining to the epidemiology, disease presentation, pathophysiology, diagnostics, and therapeutics regarding psychiatric sequelae of PHPT with an emphasis on clinical pearls for practicing psychiatrists. A literature search was conducted using the US National Library of Medicine's PubMed resource using the following keywords in various combinations: primary hyperparathyroidism, neuropsychiatric, calcium, psychosis, mania, depression, catatonia, delirium, parathyroidectomy, and psychotropic medication. We discuss in depth all aspects of the diagnosis and management of psychiatric sequela in PHPT. We have also identified epidemiological trends, discussed the most common clinical presentations, and postulated possible mechanisms for psychiatric symptoms in PHPT. Psychiatrists should maintain diagnostic suspicion for PHPT in older adult female patients presenting with new-onset psychiatric illness. Several mechanisms involving the following may explain the variety of psychiatric symptoms in PHPT: tyrosine hydroxylase, parathyroid hormone, interleukin-6, monoamine oxidase, calcium, and the sodium-potassium adenosine triphosphatase transporter. We recommend psychiatrists take a symptom-oriented approach to management. Treating a patient's psychosis, mania, depression, catatonia, delirium, or eating disorder pathology via conventional therapeutics seems like a rational approach despite the underlying medical etiology. Only parathyroidectomy has been proven to be definitive in the complete amelioration of psychiatric symptoms.

A Rare Case Report of a Corpus Callosal Splenial Lesion in the Context of Atypical Neuroleptic Malignant Syndrome.

In this report, we describe a case of atypical neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS) presenting with an isolated lesion in the splenium of the corpus callosum (ILSCC). There is a paucity of information regarding this topic within the literature and only 7 previous case reports have been published at the time of writing. To our knowledge, this case report is also the first to describe an atypical NMS variant in the context of an ILSCC. In this report, we describe the important considerations in formulating differential diagnosis for ILSCC and are the first report to propose a possible pathophysiological mechanism relating ILSCC with NMS.