Ethnic variations in pathways into early intervention services for psychosis.

BACKGROUND: Ethnic variations have previously been identified in the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP) and pathways into psychiatric services. These have not been examined in the context of early intervention services, which may alter these trajectories. AIMS: To explore ethnic differences in the nature and duration of pathways into early intervention services. METHOD: In a naturalistic cohort study, data were collected for 1024 individuals with psychotic disorders accepted for case management by eight London early intervention services. RESULTS: Duration of untreated psychosis was prolonged in the White British group compared with most other ethnic groups. White British individuals were more likely to make contact with their general practitioner and less likely to be seen within emergency medical services. All Black patient groups were more likely than their White British counterparts to experience involvement of criminal justice agencies. CONCLUSIONS: Variations continue to exist in how and when individuals from different ethnic groups access early intervention services. These may account for disparities in DUP.

Count Me In: an inclusive approach towards patient recruitment for clinical research studies in the NHS.

BACKGROUND: Participation in clinical research is associated with better patient outcomes and higher staff retention and satisfaction rates. Nevertheless, patient recruitment to mental health studies is challenging due to a reliance on clinician or patient referrals (standard approach). To empower patients and make healthcare research more equitable, we explored a novel researcher-led approach, called 'Count Me In' (CMI). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate a 12-month implementation of CMI in a routine clinical setting. METHODS: CMI was launched in August 2021 in a mental health National Health Service (NHS) Trust in England. Patients (aged 18+) learnt about CMI at their initial clinical appointment. Unless they opted out, they became contactable for research (via research informatics searches). FINDINGS: After 12 months, 368 patients opted out and 22 741 became contactable through CMI, including 2716 through the standard approach and 20 025 through electronic searches (637% increase). Of those identified via electronic searches, 738 were contacted about specific studies and 270 consented to participate. Five themes were identified based on patient and staff experiences of CMI: 'level of awareness and accessibility of CMI', 'perceptions of research and perceived engagement with CMI', 'inclusive research practice', 'engagement and incentives for research participation', and 'relationships between clinical and research settings'. CONCLUSIONS: CMI (vs standard) led to a larger and diverse patient cohort and was favoured by patients and staff. Yet a shift in the NHS research culture is needed to ensure that this diversity translates to actual research participation. CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: Through collaboration with other NHS Trusts and services, key funders (National Institute for Health and Care Research) and new national initiatives (Office for Life Sciences Mental Health Mission), CMI has the potential to address recruitment challenges through rapid patient recruitment into time-sensitive country-wide studies.

Impact of COVID-19 on telepsychiatry at the service and individual patient level across two UK NHS mental health Trusts.

BACKGROUND: The effects of COVID-19 on the shift to remote consultations remain to be properly investigated. OBJECTIVE: To quantify the extent, nature and clinical impact of the use of telepsychiatry during the COVID-19 pandemic and compare it with the data in the same period of the 2 years before the outbreak. METHODS: We used deidentified electronic health records routinely collected from two UK mental health Foundation Trusts (Oxford Health (OHFT) and Southern Health (SHFT)) between January and September in 2018, 2019 and 2020. We considered three outcomes: (1) service activity, (2) in-person versus remote modalities of consultation and (3) clinical outcomes using Health of the Nation Outcome Scales (HoNOS) data. HoNOS data were collected from two cohorts of patients (cohort 1: patients with ≥1 HoNOS assessment each year in 2018, 2019 and 2020; cohort 2: patients with ≥1 HoNOS assessment each year in 2019 and 2020), and analysed in clusters using superclasses (namely, psychotic, non-psychotic and organic), which are used to assess overall healthcare complexity in the National Health Service. All statistical analyses were done in Python. FINDINGS: Mental health service activity in 2020 increased in all scheduled community appointments (by 15.4% and 5.6% in OHFT and SHFT, respectively). Remote consultations registered a 3.5-fold to 6-fold increase from February to June 2020 (from 4685 to a peak of 26 245 appointments in OHFT and from 7117 to 24 987 appointments in SHFT), with post-lockdown monthly averages of 23 030 and 22 977 remote appointments/month in OHFT and SHFT, respectively. Video consultations comprised up to one-third of total telepsychiatric services per month from April to September 2020. For patients with dementia, non-attendance rates at in-person appointments were higher than remote appointments (17.2% vs 3.9%). The overall HoNOS cluster value increased only in the organic superclass (clusters 18-21, n=174; p<0.001) from 2019 to 2020, suggesting a specific impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this population of patients. CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL IMPLICATIONS: The rapid shift to remote service delivery has not reached some groups of patients who may require more tailored management with telepsychiatry.

Routine evaluation in first episode psychosis services: feasibility and results from the MiData project.

BACKGROUND: Early intervention services (EIS) for psychosis are becoming widespread. Structured methods of assessment are advocated in these services, but a consensus is still needed on a package of measures with good psychometric properties that is feasible and reliable for routine use in this setting. METHODS: A computerised assessment package (MiData) was designed to provide clinicians with easy-to-understand feedback about clients' progress and to allow evaluation of the whole service for both audit and research purposes. Core areas include symptoms, duration of untreated psychosis (DUP), pathways into care, social functioning, and substance misuse at initial intake and annually thereafter. RESULTS: MiData has been adopted by EIS throughout London and in some other centres. Baseline data are now available regarding 533 first-episode psychosis patients who presented to 8 London teams. The completeness of the data varied across teams and measures, with fullest completion for sociodemographic data (99% on some measures) and poorest for DUP. The average London EIS client is male, single, unemployed and comes from Black or Minority Ethnic group. Most (70%) demonstrated poor social functioning at intake, over a third (38%) reported substance abuse problems and 23% had harmed themselves or others in the previous 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: MiData provides a clinician-friendly system of evaluating first-episode psychosis services but requires further refinement and dedicated resources to improve completion rates. This method of collecting routine data is of use to clinicians, managers, health service researchers and commissioners and potentially it may enable naturalistic comparisons between different models of care.

East London Modified-Broset as Decision-Making Tool to Predict Seclusion in Psychiatric Intensive Care Units.

Seclusion is a last resort intervention for management of aggressive behavior in psychiatric settings. There is no current objective and practical decision-making instrument for seclusion use on psychiatric wards. Our aim was to test the predictive and discriminatory characteristics of the East London Modified-Broset (ELMB), to delineate its decision-making profile for seclusion of adult psychiatric patients, and second to benchmark it against the psychometric properties of the Broset Violence Checklist (BVC). ELMB, an 8-item modified version of the 6-item BVC, was retrospectively employed to evaluate the seclusion decision-making process on two Psychiatric Intensive Care Units (patients n = 201; incidents n = 2,187). Data analyses were carried out using multivariate regression and Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves. Predictors of seclusion were: physical violence toward staff/patients OR = 24.2; non-compliance with PRN (pro re nata) medications OR = 9.8; and damage to hospital property OR = 2.9. ROC analyses indicated that ELMB was significantly more accurate that BVC, with higher sensitivity, specificity, and positive likelihood ratio. Results were similar across gender. The ELMB is a sensitive and specific instrument that can be used to guide the decision-making process when implementing seclusion.

A preliminary study of EAT and BITE scores for one school year in Bermuda: increased early anorexic measures related to socio-economic factors.

BACKGROUND: Bermuda is a unique heterogeneous ethnic population in which it is possible to study the interaction of ethnicity, culture, gender and economic factors that influence abnormal eating attitudes. METHOD: A cross-sectional survey of 836 adolescents, one total school year in Bermuda. The BITE and EAT self-report questionnaires were administered in a classroom setting. The analysis was for caseness and for total scores. Caseness represents possible developing anorexic or bulimic eating disorder pathology for this non-adult population. RESULTS: 7.3% fulfilled EAT caseness, 0.24% fulfilled BITE caseness. There was no gender or ethnic difference for caseness. Multivariate analysis for EAT caseness found Odds Ratios of 2.89 (95% CI 1.37, 6.11) for Manual maternal job status. CONCLUSION: Despite the limitation of a questionnaire analysis, lower socioeconomic status increases the risk of possible eating disorder pathology in this adolescent population. Developing anorexic eating attitudes were more prevalent compared to bulimic attitudes for schoolchildren in this unique cultural setting.

Duration of untreated psychosis in adolescents: ethnic differences and clinical profiles.

BACKGROUND: Duration of Untreated Psychosis (DUP) is an important measure associated with outcome of psychosis. This first study in the UK compared DUP between adolescent and adult-onset individuals and explored whether the adolescent-onset group showed variations in DUP that could be accounted for by sociodemographic and selected risk factors. METHODS: This naturalistic cohort study included 940 new first-episode psychosis cases aged 14-35years (136 adolescent-onset versus 804 adult-onset psychotic individuals) referred to nine Early Intervention Services for Psychosis in London (2003-2009). Sociodemographic characteristics, age of onset, family history of mental illness, duration of untreated psychosis, suicidality and substance use information were collected at entry to the services. RESULTS: Adolescents presented with significantly greater median DUP (179days) than adults (81days, p=0.005). Large differences in DUP were found amongst adolescent ethnic groups (median DUP: White: 454days; Black: 103days; Asian and mixed: 28.5days). In addition, younger age of onset and higher lifetime cannabis use were associated with longer treatment delay amongst adolescents. CONCLUSIONS: This study of DUP in adolescent-onset psychosis found it to be approximately twice the length of DUP amongst adults. For the adolescent White sub-group, DUP was far greater than the UK Department of Health target (<3months). Both the high rates of lifetime cannabis use and the lower age of onset might explain the long DUP in this ethnic group. Physicians need to be particularly vigilant about identifying and managing early psychosis in adolescents.

Quetiapine and citalopram: aetiological significances in serotonin syndrome.

The use of atypical antipsychotic medication is increasing, with an increase in reported side-effects. The first reported case of quetiapine and citalopram-associated serotonin syndrome is discussed with reference to a Medline, Embase, and PsycINFO literature search. The putative aetiological mechanism is supersensitivity of 5-HT(1A) receptors (quetiapine) within an environment of increased synaptic available serotonin (citalopram). The symptom profile of serotonin syndrome overlaps with neuroleptic malignant syndrome, but can be reliably differentiated using a time and toxicity scale.