(Nov. 29, 2017) Research Roundup is a monthly public service of the Office of Research and Public Affairs. Each edition describes a striking new data point about serious mental illness and summarizes recently published research reports or developments.
DATAPOINT of the Month
- More than 34% of individuals with co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorders did not receive any treatment in 2016.
The 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, an annual survey conducted by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services administration, reports that only 12% of the 2.6 million individuals with co-occurring serious mental illness and substance use disorders received both mental health and substance use treatment in 2016. More than 34% of the 2.6 million, or 884,000 individuals, did not receive any treatment whatsoever.
RESEARCH of the Month
- Medicaid enrollment to increase service use in released prisoners with serious mental illness
Mental health service use is increased for three years post-release from prison for people with serious mental illness who receive a referral for expedited Medicaid enrollment, according to a Psychiatric Services report. Brigid Grabert and colleagues studied the long-term effects from Washington State's policy to expedite Medicaid enrollment for released prisoners with severe mental illness, comparing the long-term results to their previously-published short-term outcomes at 12 months. The results show that the short-term outcomes of improved Medicaid enrollment and increased service use is sustained at the three-year time point, having some indications of success in the policy. However, expedited Medicaid enrollment had no effect in reducing criminal recidivism among released prisoners with serious mental illness, according to the results. The authors conclude more research is needed into factors influencing criminal recidivism among this population.
Grabert. et al. (2017, October). "Expedited Medicaid enrollment, service use, and recidivism at 36 months among released prisoners with severe mental illness." Psychiatric Services. - Vitamin D and cognition in individuals with schizophrenia
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with a decrease in cognition in individuals with psychotic disorders, according to a new analysis published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. Dr. Mari Nerhus and colleagues from the University of Oslo, Norway, analyzed the effect of vitamin D deficiency on cognition, including verbal memory and executive functioning, on 225 patients with a psychotic disorder. Cognitive impairments are a core feature of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia and have very few effective treatment approaches, according to the study authors. The authors conclude that evidence of an association between vitamin D and cognition in psychotic disorders indicates more clinical research is needed to explore the potential benefit of vitamin D on improving cognition.
Nerhus, S. et al. (2017, July/August). "Vitamin D deficiency associated with cognitive functioning in psychotic disorders." The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. - Treatment for adults with schizophrenia, a comparative review by the US government
Comparative evidence of pharmacotherapies for treatment of schizophrenia finds differences in effectiveness between pharmaceutical treatments including both first and second generation antipsychotics in a new systematic review published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. More than 150,000 trials of pharmacological and psychosocial treatments for adults with schizophrenia were included in the review. The results included findings such as haloperidol had greater adverse outcomes than olanzapine or risperidone despite similar effectiveness, and the long-acting injectable version of risperidone improved social functioning to a greater degree than quetiapine. In addition, many psychosocial interventions improved quality of life compared to usual care in adults with schizophrenia, including assertive community treatment and intensive case-management, according to the results.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. (2017, October). "Treatments for schizophrenia in adults: A systematic review." US Department of Health and Human Services.
Elizabeth Sinclair
Research Associate
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Research Weekly is a summary published as a public service of the Treatment Advocacy Center and does not necessarily reflect the findings or positions of the organization or its staff. Full access to research summarized may require a fee or paid subscription to the publications.
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