[Current aspects on the antipsychotic treatment of older people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders].

Background: From a geriatric perspective, the use of antipsychotic drugs (AP) is associated with significant risks in addition to their known effects. These include unfavorable interactions with geriatric syndromes, such as immobility and risk of falling, and potentially increased mortality, at least in certain patient groups. With reference to this the current state of knowledge on treatment with AP in older people with schizophrenia spectrum disorders is summarized with a focus on the typical multimorbidity of geriatric patients.

Interventions to Promote the Utilization of Physical Health Care for People with Severe Mental Illness: A Scoping Review.

Background: The main contributor to excess mortality in severe mental illness (SMI) is poor physical health. Causes include unfavorable health behaviors among people with SMI, stigmatization phenomena, as well as limited access to and utilization of physical health care. Patient centered interventions to promote the utilization of and access to existing physical health care facilities may be a pragmatic and cost-effective approach to improve health equity in this vulnerable and often neglected patient population.

[Palliative care of persons with dementia and delirium].

The number of people with dementia and delirium not induced by alcohol and other psychoactive substances has significantly increased during the last decades and will rise further in the future, particularly in the oldest old. In the vast majority of cases dementia is characterized by a progressive course with shortened life expectancy and a lack of curative treatment options. Delirium will remit in many cases; however, in a substantial proportion of patients the further course is unfavorable.

Mortality and Medical Comorbidity in the Severely Mentally Ill.

Background: Mentally ill patients die on average 10 years earlier than the general population, largely due to general medical disorders. This study is the first to explore in a large German sample the prevalence, mortality, and medical comorbidity in pa- tients with severe mental illness (SMI). The patients were affected by borderline personality disorder (BPD), psychotic disorders, bipolar disorder, or severe unipolar depression.

[Somatic risks in elderly people with severe psychiatric illnesses].

Background: Aged patients with severe mental illness (SMI) suffer from a high risk for functional impairment and a high load of somatic comorbidities. Until now, there has been a lack of systematic studies on this patient population in later life. This review summarizes the most significant somatic comorbidities and discusses the consequences for the medical care of this elderly group of patients.

[Treatment with psychotropic agents in patients with dementia and delirium : Gap between guideline recommendations and treatment practice].

Background And Objectives: Psychiatric symptoms in dementia and delirium are associated with a substantially reduced quality of life of patients and their families and often challenging for professionals. Pharmacoepidemiological surveys have shown that, in particular, patients living in nursing homes receive prescriptions of psychotropic agents in significant higher frequency than recommended by current guidelines. This article focuses on a critical appraisal of this gap from the point of view of German healthcare services.

[Somatic morbidity in the mentally ill].

In addition to psychosocial impairment, patients with severe mental illness (SMI) are exposed to substantial risks with respect to physical health. Their life expectancy is significantly shortened in the range of 1-2 decades. Against this background common medical comorbidities of this important group of patients are discussed (e.

General medical interventions in patients with dementia treated in a psychogeriatric unit.

Medical records of 50 consecutive psychogeriatric inpatients with moderate or severe dementia were retrospectively analyzed. Comorbid general medical disorders were diagnosed in 88% of the patients (202 disorders; mean: 4.6/patient).

[Psychiatric disorders in elderly patients caused by disturbed calcium metabolism].

We report on three patients admitted to psychiatric hospital due to mental disorder in the context of marked pathology of calcium metabolism: a 69 years old male patient with known major depression developed pronounced deterioration of his mental state with distinct hypercalcemia due to parathyroid adenoma, a 90 years old male patient came to treatment with organic affective und delirious symptomatology caused by severe hypercalcemia due to bronchial carcinoma, and a 79 years old female patient was admitted for mixed depressive and anxiety syndrome with profound hypocalcemia and -magnesaemia originating in malabsorption syndrome due to Crohn's disease. Although all patients had received general medical care previously the relevance of their metabolic disorders with regard to their psychopathology had not been ascertained. In all cases treatment of disturbed electrolyte metabolism resulted in an at least temporary improvement of their psychiatric symptomatology.