Effect of long acting injectable antipsychotics on course and hospitalizations in bipolar disorder - a naturalistic mirror image study.

PURPOSE: To determining whether the addition of a long-acting injectable antipsychotic (LAI-AP) has a positive effect on prognosis in bipolar disorder. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical records of patients with bipolar disorder who were using LAI-AP at least for one year in the community mental health center (CMHC) until March 2020 were investigated. Comparisons were made between the period of one year before and after the initiation of LAI-AP. Hospital admission was the primary outcome. Residual symptom severity and functionality were evaluated with Personal and Social Performance Scale (PSP), Young Mania Rating Scale (YMRS), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). RESULTS: There were 197 patients with bipolar disorder who were attending to the CMHC and 17 of them were under maintenance treatment with LAI-AP for at least one year. The LAI-APs used were aripiprazole (n = 8), paliperidone (n = 5) and risperidone (n = 4). Duration of illness was 13.5 ± 8.02 years and duration of LAI-AP treatment was 24.8 ± 22.74 months (median: 18). During the one-year period after the LAI-AP initiation, there were fewer days spent in hospital (2.5 ± 5.68 vs. 15.5 ± 20.59 days, p = .026) and the number of hospitalizations was lower than the year before the LAI-AP use (0.1 ± 0.39 vs. 0.9 ± 1.24 hospitalizations, p = .013). During the recovery period with LAI antipsychotics, there were mild residual symptoms presented with mean PSP (70.2), YMRS (1.7) and BDI (7.6) scores. CONCLUSION: LAI-AP use may have positive effect on course for selected patients with a long history of bipolar disorder.

Temperament, Character, and Defense Mechanism Changes With Treatment in Depression: A 9-Month Naturalistic Follow-up.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in temperament, character, and defense mechanisms with the treatment and remission in patients with major depressive disorder. The study was designed as a longitudinal observational follow-up study of patients with repeated measures at 0, 12, and 36 weeks. In baseline comparisons, the major depression group showed higher harm avoidance and novelty seeking scores and lower self-directness and mature defense styles scores compared with healthy controls. In the follow-up, temperament dimensions and neurotic defenses remained unchanged, mature defense styles and self-directness revealed significant increase, and immature defense styles revealed significant decrease. Although there was no significant difference in the defense styles, harm avoidance and novelty seeking scores remained higher in MDD patients compare with healthy controls in 36 weeks. Our findings regarding continuation of hierarchically upward improvement in defense mechanism after the remission may support importance of treatment after remission.

Symptom Exacerbations of Patients Attending a Community Mental Health Center During the COVID-19 Pandemic. / Bir Toplum Ruh Sagligi Merkezi'nde Takip Edilen Hastalarda COVID-19 Salgini Sürecinde Belirtilerde Alevlenmeler.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on the clinical conditions of the patients with bipolar disorder (BD) and schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) in a community mental health center (CMHC). METHOD: Symptom exacerbations, emergency service admissions, drug dose increases, additional medication prescriptions, and psychiatric hospitalizations of patients with BD and SSD in the CMHC were evaluated retrospectively. The data from the 1-year prior, 6-months prior, 6-months after the onset and 1-year after the onset of the pandemic were compared. Hospital and CMHC medical records were used for outcomes. Personal and Social Performance (PSP) Scale was used to assess the level of functioning. RESULTS: 107 patients with the diagnosis of BD and 121 patients with the diagnosis of SSD were recruited. In the BD group, there was increase in the frequency of symptom exacerbations (p=0.001) and additional medication prescriptions or increased dose (p=0.007), with decrease in emergency service admissions (p=0.039) during the pandemic. In the patients with SSD, the number of patients with exacerbation of symptoms (p=0.001) and with increased dose or additional medication prescriptions (p=0.004) were higher during the pandemic. There was no increase in the rate of hospitalized patients in the period of first 6 months and first one year. Symptom exacerbations were more frequent in the SSD group with Covid (+) in family (p=0.016). CONCLUSION: The fact that the hospitalization rates remained the same despite an increase in the acute exacerbations provides info on the role of CMHCs and how mental health system functioned during the pandemic.

D-serine and D-amino acid oxidase levels in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders in the first episode and 6-month follow-up.

BACKGROUND: D-serine and the D-amino acid oxidase (DAO) enzyme, which breaks down d-amino acids, may be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia by affecting the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor. The exact role of D-serine and DAO, as well as the consequences of increased DAO activity in patients with schizophrenia, remain unclear. We aimed to investigate D-serine and DAO levels in patients with first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorders before treatment and after six months of treatment. METHOD: Comparisons for the serum levels of D-serine and DAO were made between 81 healthy controls and 89 patients with first-episode schizophrenia spectrum disorders without a history of treatment. Further comparisons were made after 6 months for changes in these levels in the 41 patients in follow-up. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANNS), Calgary Scale for Depression in Schizophrenia (CDSS), Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale (MoCA), Global Assessment Scale (GAS), and Clinical Global Impression Scale (CGI) were used to evaluate the symptom severity and functionality. Secondary results included comparisons related to antipsychotic equivalent doses. RESULTS: Before treatment, patients had significantly lower levels of D-serine, DAO, and D-serine/DAO ratio compared to healthy individuals (p < 0.001; p < 0.001; p = 0.004). DAO and D-serine levels of the patients were higher after six months of treatment (p = 0.025; p = 0.001). There was correlation of DAO levels with antipsychotic dosage and with PANSS negative and total subscale scores (rho = 0.421, p = 0.01; rho = 0.280, p = 0.008; rho = 0.371, p = 0.000). No correlation was found between serum D-serine level, DAO level, and the D-serine/DAO ratio with cognitive function. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that D-serine and DAO may play a role that is sensitive to treatment effects in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. To gain a more comprehensive understanding of the impact antipsychotic drugs have on NMDA receptor dysfunction, there is a requirement for studies that directly evaluates the activity of the DAO enzyme.

Relationship of Long Acting Injectable Antipsychotics with Caregiver Burden, Quality of Life, Symptom Severity and Treatment Discontinuation in Schizophrenia. / Sizofrenide Uzun Etkili Enjekte Edilebilir Antipsikotiklerin Bakim Veren Yükü, Yasam Kalitesi, Belirti Siddeti ve Tedaviyi Birakma ile Iliskisi.

OBJECTIVE: Regarding the patients using long acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotic treatment; we aimed to investigate the effect of attitude towards drugs, antipsychotic type and side effects on quality of life, caregiver burden and continuation of treatment. METHOD: Our study sample consisted of 110 patients in the age range of 18-65 using LAI antipsychotics for at least 12 weeks with the diagnosis of schizophrenia according to DSM-5 criteria. Sociodemographic and Clinical Data Form, Drug Attitude Inventory 10 (DAI-10), Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS), UKU Side Effect Rating Scale, Quality of Life for Schizophrenia Scale were used for evaluation of patients. Sociodemographic Data Form, Zarit Caregiver Burden Scale (ZCBS) were used for the caregivers. RESULTS: It is observed that the patients with positive attitude against the treatment had longer antipsychotic treatment duration (13.7+9.1 years) compared to patients with negative attitude (7.7 + 6.6 years) (p<0.001). PANSS total scores of patients who were considering about treatment discontinuation (44.0+14.3) were higher than the other patients (38.6+9.0) (p=0.03) and DAI-10 scores of patients who were considering about treatment discontinuation were lower (1.4+4.9; 5.2+3.4; p<0.001). Duration of illness were also shorter (10.3+9.3 year) for the patients who were considering about treatment discontinuation than the other group (15.7 + 9.0 year) (p=0.01). There was no significant difference in caregiver burden, side effects, quality of life and reasons for treatment discontinuation between typical and atypical antipsychotics. According to the regression analysis results, PANSS score (ß=0.553, p<0.001) and male gender (ß= 0.225, p=0.003) were positive predictors of ZCBS scores. CONCLUSION: It is observed that the attitude towards drugs and psychotic symptom severity were the most important factors for treatment discontinuation in patients with schizophrenia using LAI antipsychotics. Atypical and typical antipsychotics were not different with respect to quality of life and caregiver burden for the patients on regular treatment with LAI antipsychotics.