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High prevalence of risk factors for physical illness in a long-stay psychiatric unit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 June 2014

Sinead O'Brien ,
Enda Devitt ,
Mohamed Ahmed  and
Colm McDonald
Sinead O'Brien
Affiliation:
St Anne's Day Hospital, Roxboro Road, Limerick
Enda Devitt
Affiliation:
Western Area GP Training Scheme
Mohamed Ahmed
Affiliation:
St Brigid's Hospital, Ballinasloe, Co. Galway
Colm McDonald
Affiliation:
Department of Psychiatry, Clinical Science Institute, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland
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Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of risk factors for physical illness in a long stay psychiatric unit, where all care (both psychiatric and physical) is provided by the psychiatric team.

Method: All patients in the long-stay ward had a full physical examination including calculation of BMI. All patients had blood sampling including FBC, U&E, LFTs, TFTs, lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL and LDL), glucose, HbA1c, and prolactin. ATP111 criteria were used to determine the presence of the metabolic syndrome.

Results: We found the mean number of comorbid medical diagnosis was 2.7. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 40.7% (44.4% of females and 24.1% of males). The prevalence of obesity was 51%, and 51% also had a total cholesterols in excess of 5.0mmol/l. Prolactin was elevated in two-thirds of female patients.

Conclusion: We conclude that the annual physical examination is of limited value in long-stay psychiatric unit. The high prevalence of physical illness and physical risk factors warrants primary care involvement in screening and treatment of long-stay psychiatric patients.

Keywords

Physical illnessMetabolic syndromeLong-stay
Type
Brief Reports
Information
Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , June 2007 , pp. 55 - 58
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2007

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