Diagnose, indicate, and treat severe mental illness (DITSMI) as appropriate care: A three-year follow-up study in long-term residential psychiatric patients on the effects of re-diagnosis on medication prescription, patient functioning, and hospital bed utilization.

BACKGROUND: While polypharmacy is common in long-term residential psychiatric patients, prescription combinations may, from an evidence-based perspective, be irrational. Potentially, many psychiatric patients are treated on the basis of a poor diagnosis. We therefore evaluated the DITSMI model (i.e., Diagnose, Indicate, and Treat Severe Mental Illness), an intervention that involves diagnosis (or re-diagnosis) and appropriate treatment for severely mentally ill long-term residential psychiatric patients. Our main objective was to determine whether DITSMI affected changes over time regarding diagnoses, pharmacological treatment, psychosocial functioning, and bed utilization. METHODS: DITSMI was implemented in a consecutive patient sample of 94 long-term residential psychiatric patients during a longitudinal cohort study without a control group. The cohort was followed for three calendar years. Data were extracted from electronic medical charts. As well as diagnoses, medication use and current mental status, we assessed psychosocial functioning using the Health of the Nations Outcome Scale (HoNOS). Bed utilization was assessed according to length of stay (LOS). Change was analyzed by comparing proportions of these data and testing them with chi-square calculations. We compared the numbers of diagnoses and medication changes, the proportions of HoNOS scores below cut-off, and the proportions of LOS before and after provision of the protocol. RESULTS: Implementation of the DITSMI model was followed by different diagnoses in 49% of patients, different medication in 67%, some improvement in psychosocial functioning, and a 40% decrease in bed utilization. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that DITSMI can be recommended as an appropriate care for all long-term residential psychiatric patients.

High pneumococcal DNA load, procalcitonin and suPAR levels correlate to severe disease development in patients with pneumococcal pneumonia.

Community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) is mostly caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae. Identification of the pathogen causing CAP can be achieved by conventional culture techniques of sputum and/or blood, antigen detection from urine or molecular analysis. However, it remains difficult to determine patients who are at risk of severe disease development (intensive care unit [ICU] admittance and/or death). In this retrospective study, 121 patients admitted to the emergency department with pneumonia symptoms were included. Several markers of infection (pneumococcal DNA load in blood (real-time LytA PCR), white blood cell (WBC) count, C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT) and soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) levels) were assessed for their ability to predict severe disease development. Of 121 patients, 6 were excluded from the study because of an alternative diagnosis, whereas 8 were excluded from biomarker analysis because of the presence of co-morbidities. Of the 115 patients analysed by the LytA PCR, 23 were positive. PCR detected S. pneumoniae DNA in 82% of patients with positive blood culture for S. pneumoniae. PCR missed three samples from patients in which S. pneumoniae was recovered by blood cultures. However, eight additional LytA PCR-positive samples were detected from patients whose blood cultures remained negative. Pneumococcal DNA load was also monitored in time for 31 patients, of whom 11 had positive PCR results. For 10 out of 11 (91%) positive PCR patients, a clear increase in Ct-values was observed, indicating a lower pneumococcal DNA load in the blood as a result of antibiotic therapy. Biomarker analysis was performed in 107 patients, of whom 29 showed severe disease development. Pneumococcal DNA load (p = 0.026), PCT (p = 0.046) and suPAR (p = 0.001) levels most reliably predicted severe disease development. In conclusion, in patients with CAP, higher pneumococcal DNA load, PCT and suPAR values are associated with severe disease development (ICU admission and/or death). These biomarkers may be useful tools for triage of patients suspected of having CAP in the emergency department.

Circuits regulating pleasure and happiness in major depression.

The introduction of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors has gradually changed the borders of the major depression disease class. Anhedonia was considered a cardinal symptom of endogenous depression, but the potential of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors to treat anxiety disorders has increased the relevance of stress-induced morbidity. This shift has led to an important heterogeneity of current major depressive disorder. The complexity can be disentangled by postulating the existence of two different but mutually interacting neuronal circuits regulating the intensity of anhedonia (lack of pleasure) and dysphoria (lack of happiness). These circuits are functionally dominated by partly closed limbic (regulating misery-fleeing behaviour) and extrapyramidal (regulating reward-seeking behaviour) cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuits. The re-entry circuits include the shell and core parts of the accumbens nucleus, respectively. Pleasure can be considered to result from finding relief from the hypermotivation to exhibit rewarding behaviour, and happiness from finding relief from negative or conflicting circumstances. Hyperactivity of the extrapyramidal CSTC circuit results in craving, whereas hyperactivity of the limbic system results in dysphoria.

Practical recommendations for improvement of the physical health care of patients with severe mental illness.

OBJECTIVE: Health care for the physical health of patients with severe mental illness (SMI) needs to be improved. Therefore, we aimed to develop policy recommendations to improve this physical health care in the Netherlands based on consensus (general agreement) between the major stakeholders. METHOD: A modified Delphi was used to explore barriers and subsequently establish policy recommendations with all key stakeholders. Consensus was sought between patients with SMI, their family carers, general practitioners, and mental healthcare professionals--all experts in the everyday practice of health care. RESULTS: Consensus was reached on policy recommendations regarding (i) improvements in collaboration between healthcare professionals, (ii) the need for professional education on the specific medical risks of patients with SMI, and (iii) the distinguished responsibilities of general practitioners on the one hand and mental healthcare professionals on the other hand in taking care of patients' physical health. CONCLUSION: This article provides a range of policy recommendations that could lead to considerable improvements in the physical health of SMI patients.

Developments for improved diagnosis of bacterial bloodstream infections.

Bloodstream infections (BSIs) are associated with high mortality and increased healthcare costs. Optimal management of BSI depends on several factors including recognition of the disease, laboratory tests and treatment. Rapid and accurate identification of the etiologic agent is crucial to be able to initiate pathogen specific antibiotic therapy and decrease mortality rates. Furthermore, appropriate treatment might slow down the emergence of antibiotic resistant strains. Culture-based methods are still considered to be the "gold standard" for the detection and identification of pathogens causing BSI. Positive blood cultures are used for Gram-staining. Subsequently, positive blood culture material is subcultured on solid media, and (semi-automated) biochemical testing is performed for species identification. Finally, a complete antibiotic susceptibility profile can be provided based on cultured colonies, which allows the start of pathogen-tailored antibiotic therapy. This conventional workflow is extremely time-consuming and can take up to several days. Furthermore, fastidious and slow-growing microorganisms, as well as antibiotic pre-treated samples can lead to false-negative results. The main aim of this review is to present different strategies to improve the conventional laboratory diagnostic steps for BSI. These approaches include protein-based (MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry) and nucleic acid-based (polymerase chain reaction [PCR]) identification from subculture, blood cultures, and whole blood to decrease time to results. Pathogen enrichment and DNA isolation methods, to enable optimal pathogen DNA recovery from whole blood, are described. In addition, the use of biomarkers as patient pre-selection tools for molecular assays are discussed.

[Hidden diseases: tuberculosis in a woman with a severe mental illness]. / Tbc bij een vrouw met een ernstige psychiatrische aandoening.

Patients with severe mental illness often have only limited access to health care for physical symptoms. They have difficulty in organising their thoughts and articulating their requests for medical help; in addition, they often have a reduced perception of stimuli like physical pain. There may also be a language barrier and sometimes a cultural barrier. The case that we present demonstrates that these are not separate causes but they are interrelated in a complex manner. Screening for a latent disease such as tuberculosis reduces the risk of a delayed diagnosis stemming from the patient's inability to articulate a request for medical help. The physical symptoms of patients with severe mental illness can only be reliably interpreted when there is close cooperation between physicians and psychiatrists.

Evaluating interventions to improve somatic health in severe mental illness: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To present a systematic review of the evaluation of randomized interventions directed toward improving somatic health for patients with severe mental illness (SMI). METHOD: A systematic search in PubMed, Embase, Cinahl, and PsycInfo was performed. The scope of the search was prospective studies for patients aged 18-70, published from January 2000 till June 2011. Randomized interventions directed toward improving somatic health for patients with SMI were selected. We excluded studies on elderly, children, and studies performed before 2000. Information on population, type of intervention, follow-up, outcome measures, and on authors' conclusions were drawn from the original articles. RESULTS: Twenty-two original studies were included, presenting four types of interventions: health education (n = 9), exercise (n = 6), smoking cessation (n = 5), and changes in health care organization (n = 2). To evaluate the effect of these studies 93 different outcome measures were used in 16 categories. CONCLUSION: Many interventions directed toward improving somatic health for patients with SMI have been started. These studies did not apply similar evaluations, and did not use uniform outcome measures of the effect of their interventions. Valuable comparisons on effectiveness are therefore almost impossible.

Influencing CYP enzymes to boost psychiatric treatment: a review on clinical evidence.

INTRODUCTION: Therapeutic drug monitoring to optimize blood plasma concentrations is advised for certain psychiatric drugs. The current standard is to change the dose based on the blood plasma concentration. We present an overview that blood plasma concentrations can also be influenced by adding co-medication based on pharmacokinetic knowledge. METHOD: We performed a systematic review in medical databases for pharmaco-enhancing strategies, and we present 2 cases on actively influencing CYP3A4 metabolism. RESULTS: 4 original studies were selected on strategies to influence CYP metabolism. 2 studies on influencing CYP2D6 metabolism, 2 studies on influencing CYP1A2 metabolism. In all studies an effect of this influence was present.Ample clinical evidence is present, but shows promising results. Pharmacokinetic knowledge can and should be used in clinical settings to optimize pharmacotherapy for vulnerable patients. Also the access to expensive medication can be increased by reduction of high dosage schemes.