Increased mortality in schizophrenia due to cardiovascular disease - a non-systematic review of epidemiology, possible causes, and interventions.

Background: Schizophrenia is among the major causes of disability worldwide and the mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD) is significantly elevated. There is a growing concern that this health challenge is not fully understood and efficiently addressed.

Methods: Non-systematic review using searches in PubMed on relevant topics as well as selection of references based on the authors' experience from clinical work and research in the field.

Genome-wide association study identifies genetic loci associated with body mass index and high density lipoprotein-cholesterol levels during psychopharmacological treatment - a cross-sectional naturalistic study.

Metabolic and cardiovascular side effects are serious clinical problems related to psychopharmacological treatment, but the underlying mechanisms are mostly unknown. We performed a genome-wide association study of metabolic and cardiovascular risk factors during pharmacological therapy. Twelve indicators of metabolic side effects as well as cardiovascular risk factors were analyzed in a naturalistic sample of 594 patients of Norwegian ancestry.

Bipolar disorder patients have similar levels of education but lower socio-economic status than the general population.

Background: There is conflicting evidence regarding the educational level and its importance for social and occupational functioning in bipolar disorder (BD). The aim of this study was to investigate how educational achievement relates to function in BD compared with the general population, and which clinical factors are associated with level of education.

Methods: Hospitalized patients with DSM-IV BD (N=257; 69.

Medication adherence in outpatients with severe mental disorders: relation between self-reports and serum level.

Medication nonadherence in severe mental disorders is an important clinical issue, but estimates vary between studies. There is a need for valid self-reports for both research and clinical practice. This study examined the level of adherence to prescribed medication in outpatients with severe mental disorders and evaluated the validity of a simple self-report rating of adherence.

Similar immune profile in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia: selective increase in soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor I and von Willebrand factor.

Background: Alterations in the inflammatory system have been associated with schizophrenia and major depression, while bipolar disorder has been less studied. Most previous studies examined small samples, and the literature is inconsistent with regard to specific underlying immune mechanisms. In the present study, we examined markers representing different inflammatory pathways, and the aim was to investigate whether the levels of inflammatory parameters in a representative sample of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia are elevated compared to healthy controls, and to investigate whether the inflammatory profile is different between the groups.

Hormonal markers of metabolic dysregulation in patients with severe mental disorders after olanzapine treatment under real-life conditions.

Objective: Dyslipidemia independent of body mass has previously been reported in humans after antipsychotic treatment. The present study investigated the levels of several metabolic regulatory hormones in psychiatric outpatients treated with different antipsychotics under real-life conditions.

Methods: The study included cross-sectional data from 234 subjects on stable monotherapy with any of the following: olanzapine (n = 72), any other antipsychotic (n = 80), or no medications (n = 82).

Neurocognitive dysfunction in bipolar and schizophrenia spectrum disorders depends on history of psychosis rather than diagnostic group.

Objectives: Neurocognitive dysfunction is milder in bipolar disorders than in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, supporting a dimensional approach to severe mental disorders. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of lifetime history of psychosis for neurocognitive functioning across these disorders. We asked whether neurocognitive dysfunction in bipolar and schizophrenia spectrum disorders depends more on history of psychosis than diagnostic category or subtype.

Using the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test to assess learning potential in normal IQ schizophrenia: does it have potential?

Background: Learning potential, a dynamic multi-administration approach to assessment, is claimed to predict functional outcome in schizophrenia better than traditional single-administration neuropsychological tests.

Aims: This study investigates the relation between learning potential and clinical and demographic variables, social functioning and neuropsychological abilities in a sample of 30 participants with schizophrenia with a mean IQ score within the normal range (mean Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI) IQ=106).

Methods: Two Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) based methods for assessing learning potential are compared.

Delusions are associated with poor cognitive insight in schizophrenia.

The purpose of the study was to investigate the relationship between the symptoms delusions and hallucinations measured by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale and cognitive insight as assessed with the Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS) in patients with schizophrenia. The BCIS is based on 2 subscales, self-reflectiveness and self-certainty, measuring objectivity, reflectiveness and openness to feedback, and mental flexibility. Overall cognitive insight was defined as the difference between self-reflectiveness and self-certainty.

Can learning potential in schizophrenia be assessed with the standard CVLT-II? An exploratory study.

This study examined the potential of using the regular administration of a common neuropsychological test, the CVLT-II, to assess learning potential in schizophrenia. Based on List A trial 1 performance and the learning slope, a schizophrenia sample was divided into three learning potential groups (non-learners, learners and high-achievers) that differed in the use of learning strategies. High-achievers utilized more semantic clustering than learners and non-learners, and non-learners were less consistent in words recalled than the other two groups.

Dyslipidemia independent of body mass in antipsychotic-treated patients under real-life conditions.

Objective: Antipsychotic (AP) treatment, in particular with some second-generation drugs, is associated with weight gain and other metabolic side effects. However, the relationship between drug-induced weight gain and dyslipidemia is not well understood. We investigated how cardiometabolic risk factors were related to body mass during treatment with different APs under real-life conditions.

Emotion perception and learning potential: mediators between neurocognition and social problem-solving in schizophrenia?

Social cognition and learning potential have been proposed as mediating variables between neurocognition and functional outcome in schizophrenia. The present study examined this relation in a schizophrenia group (N = 26) with normal IQ. Neurocognition was measured with a composite score from tests of verbal learning, psychomotor speed, and executive functioning.

Neurocognitive profiles in bipolar I and bipolar II disorder: differences in pattern and magnitude of dysfunction.

Objectives: Studies on neurocognitive functioning in bipolar disorder, reporting deficits in memory, attention, and executive functioning, have primarily focused on bipolar I disorder. The aim of this study was to examine whether patients with bipolar I and bipolar II disorder have different neurocognitive profiles.

Methods: Forty-two patients with bipolar I disorder, 31 patients with bipolar II and 124 healthy controls, from a large ongoing study on psychotic disorders, were included.

Increased expression of lipid biosynthesis genes in peripheral blood cells of olanzapine-treated patients.

Recent in-vitro studies show that antipsychotic drugs increase lipid biosynthesis through changes in gene expression. Based on these finding we compared the expression of two central lipid biosynthesis genes, fatty acid synthase (FASN) and stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD), in whole blood of olanzapine-treated and unmedicated patients. Patients with psychotic disorders were consecutively selected from an ongoing, naturalistic study, and divided into two groups according to the following criteria: (1) strict monotherapy with olanzapine (n=19) or (2) no current medication (n=19).

Measuring cognitive insight in schizophrenia and bipolar disorder: a comparative study.

Background: Beck Cognitive Insight Scale (BCIS) has been designed for assessment of self-reflection on patients' anomalous experiences and interpretations of own beliefs. The scale has been developed and validated for patients with schizophrenia. We wanted to study the utility of the scale for patients with bipolar disorder.

The level of cardiovascular risk factors in bipolar disorder equals that of schizophrenia: a comparative study.

Objective: In schizophrenia, increased rates of somatic mortality have been shown to correspond with a high prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, including smoking and the metabolic syndrome. In bipolar disorder, the amount of cardiovascular risk is still largely unknown. This study compares the prevalence of smoking and metabolic disturbances in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in a representative sample of patients under naturalistic conditions.

Sociodemographic characteristics and cardiovascular risk factors in patients with severe mental disorders compared with the general population.

Objective: To study the prevalence and distribution of cardiovascular risk factors in a group of patients with severe mental disorders compared with the general population and investigate if differences in sociodemographic background variables between groups were associated with differences in risk profile.

Method: We compared data from the ongoing Ulleval 600 Study (205 pharmacologically stable outpatients with DSM-IV psychotic disorders) with data from the 2000-2001 Oslo Health Study (18,770 individuals from the general population of the same area). Subjects were stratified according to age and gender and compared for ethnic background, level of education, marital status, and prevalence of risk factors.