(Sept. 26, 2017) Research Roundup is a special edition of Research Weekly, a weekly 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
- 1.7 million individuals with serious mental illness misuse opioids
More than 16% of individuals with serious mental illness, or 1.7 million people, misused opioids in 2016, according to the newly released 2016 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, a nationally representative survey conducted annually by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
RESEARCH of the Month
- Long acting injectable antipsychotics and treatment relapse in schizophrenia
Long acting injectable (LAI) formulations of antipsychotics reduce the risk of relapse for patients who discontinue medication therapy, according to a new Journal of Clinical Psychiatry report. Peter Weiden and investigators utilized data from paliperidone clinical trials to determine the effect of oral versus LAI formulations on the delay of relapse after withdrawal from medication therapy. The authors found that the LAI formulation of paliperidone significantly delays patient relapse after medication discontinuation compared to its oral equivalent. Preventing relapse is a major goal in schizophrenia treatment, according to the authors, indicating LAI formulations should be considered as best practices for antipsychotic prescribing.
Weiden, P. J. et al. (2017, July/August). "Does half-life matter after antipsychotic discontinuation?" Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. - Access to mental health care as a result of the Affordable Care Act
Psychiatrists are often unwilling to participate in insurance networks due to low reimbursement rates and to avoid caring for sicker and costlier patients, according to a new Health Affairs report. Jane Zhu and authors from the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine analyzed the participation of mental health providers in all US Affordable Care Act (ACA) plans to determine the effect of the ACA on mental health parity. The authors found that only 42.7% of psychiatrists participate in at least one network, indicating efforts to increase network participation is necessary to improve treatment access for individuals with the most severe psychiatric disease.
Zhu, G. M. et al. (2017, September). "Networks in ACA marketplaces are narrower for mental health care than primary care." Health Affairs. - Reducing diabetes risk among individuals with schizophrenia receiving antipsychotics
Policies promoting metabolic testing improves the safety of second-generation antipsychotic prescribing, according to a new study published in Psychiatric Services this month. Andrew Mulcahy and colleagues examined the impact of increasing diabetes testing among Medicaid patients with schizophrenia through the development of a computer model. The authors found that metabolic testing reduces prescriptions of higher-risk antipsychotics by 14% and time to diabetes diagnosis by 57%. The study concludes that incentivizing metabolic testing has a large potential to help reduce the prevalence of diabetes in this high-risk population.
Mulcahy, A. W. (2017, September). "Simulated effects of policies to reduce diabetes risk among adults with schizophrenia receiving antipsychotics" Psychiatric Services.
The Treatment Advocacy Center is soliciting comments for recommendations to ISMICC, a federal committee tasked with improving treatment for individuals with serious mental illness.
Elizabeth Sinclair
Research Associate
Follow ORPA on Twitter at @TACResearch.
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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