Lifestyles of Patients with Functional Psychosis Compared to Those of a Sample of the Regional General Population: Findings from a Study in a Community Mental Health Service of the Veneto Region, Italy.

Unhealthy lifestyles contribute, with other risk factors, to the high prevalence of mortality and physical comorbidity among mental patients compared to the general population. We collected data on the lifestyles of 193 subjects with psychosis in contact with a Community Mental Health Service in north-eastern Italy and compared them with a representative sample (total: 3219 subjects) of the general population of the same region. Diet, exercise, smoking and alcohol consumption were worse in mental patients.

Physical health promotion in patients with functional psychoses receiving community psychiatric services: Results of the PHYSICO-DSM-VR study.

Objectives: Psychotic patients have poorer health behaviours, including poor diets and sedentary lifestyles increasing their risk for obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidaemia, and tend to have a shorter life expectancy as compared to nonpsychiatric populations. Lifestyle intervention programmes that target modifiable risk factors in such patients have produced uneven results. The objective was to evaluate the efficacy of a package of health promotion strategies to improve diet and physical exercise in psychotic patients.

An examination of autism spectrum traits in adolescents with anorexia nervosa and their parents.

Background: There may be a link between anorexia nervosa and autism spectrum disorders. The aims of this study were to examine whether adolescents with anorexia nervosa have autism spectrum and/or obsessive-compulsive traits, how many would meet diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder, and whether these traits are shared by parents.

Methods: A total of 150 adolescents receiving outpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa or subthreshold anorexia nervosa and their parents completed the autism spectrum disorder and eating disorder sections of the Development and Well-being Assessment.

Health promotion lifestyle interventions for weight management in psychosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

Background: Psychiatric patients have more physical health problems and much shorter life expectancies compared to the general population, due primarily to premature cardiovascular disease. A multi-causal model which includes a higher prevalence of risk factors has provided a valid explanation. It takes into consideration not only risks such as gender, age, and family history that are inherently non-modifiable, but also those such as obesity, smoking, diabetes, hypertension, and dyslipidemia that are modifiable through behavioural changes and improved care.