The cost-effectiveness of the Manchester 'lung health checks', a community-based lung cancer low-dose CT screening pilot.

Background: Previous evaluations of low-dose CT (LDCT) lung cancer screening programmes have taken very different approaches in the design of the informative trials and the methods applied to determine cost-effectiveness. Therefore, it has not been possible to determine if differences in cost-effectiveness are due to different screening approaches or the evaluation methodology. This study reports the findings of an evaluation of the first round of a community-based, LDCT screening pilot Manchester, applying previously published methodology to ensure consistency.

Use of electronic technologies to promote community and personal health for individuals unconnected to health care systems.

Ensuring health care services for populations outside the mainstream health care system is challenging for all providers. But developing the health care infrastructure to better serve such unconnected individuals is critical to their health care status, to third-party payers, to overall cost savings in public health, and to reducing health disparities. Our increasingly sophisticated electronic technologies offer promising ways to more effectively engage this difficult to reach group and increase its access to health care resources.

Prevalence, correlates, and symptom profiles of depression among men with a history of military service.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the prevalence, correlates, and symptom profiles of depressive disorders in men with a history of military service.

Methods: Data were obtained from the 2006 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System survey. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to identify correlates of lifetime and current depression.

Predictors of arrest during forensic assertive community treatment.

Objective: An emerging adaptation of the assertive community treatment model is forensic assertive community treatment (FACT), which aims to prevent criminal recidivism. This study examined predictors of arrest among patients in a prototype program and considered the implications of study findings for future development of the FACT model.

Methods: Demographic and clinical data from all 130 patients treated in Project Link from 1997 through 2003 were merged with a statewide criminal record database to identify variables associated with arrest.

Mental health services use and symptom prevalence in a cohort of adults on probation.

Objective: This study examined the prevalence of mental disorder symptoms among adult probationers and the probability of mental health service use.

Methods: Data from the 2001 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse were used to obtain information on adults reporting mental disorder symptoms who had been on probation within the past year and those who had not.

Results: Twenty-seven percent of probationers (N=311 of 1,168) and 17% of nonprobationers (N=5,830 of 34,230) had mental disorder symptoms.

Assessing patient preferences for delivery of reminders on scheduled visits in a psychiatry ambulatory service.

Reminder systems can improve compliance with care standards, yet reminder delivery parameters and associations with other success factors have not been fully understood. In this study, we assessed patient preferences for reminder delivery in a psychiatry ambulatory service, using both quantitative and qualitative analyses. Results from a survey showed that most patients had a positive attitude to reminders for both scheduled (76%) and missed (89%) visits.

The history of clozapine and its emergence in the US market: a review and analysis.

Clozapine is known as the first 'atypical' medication and is effective in people who have treatment-resistant schizophrenia. Its 1990 emergence in the USA was marked by considerable controversy over its high cost, due in large part to having been both the first new antipsychotic medication to come to market in over a decade and the need for comprehensive safety monitoring within a decentralized health system. This paper traces the history of clozapine's discovery and development in Europe, its part in the 1975 Finnish agranulocytosis scare, and its subsequent volatile emergence in the USA.

Prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among patients receiving clozapine.

Objective: This study compared the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among outpatients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder receiving clozapine with a matched comparison group from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.

Method: Ninety-three outpatients and a matched group of 2,701 comparison subjects were compared according to National Cholesterol Education Program criteria. Outpatient data were obtained through physical assessments, laboratory testing, and reviews of medical records.

Diabetes mellitus among outpatients receiving clozapine: prevalence and clinical-demographic correlates.

Background: Treatment with antipsychotic drugs has been associated with increased risk for developing diabetes mellitus. Recent consensus statements suggest that clozapine may pose an especially high risk. The purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence and clinical-demographic correlates of diabetes among outpatients with DSM-IV-diagnosed schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder receiving clozapine.

Prevalence of diabetes mellitus among outpatients with severe mental disorders receiving atypical antipsychotic drugs.

Background: Recent studies have suggested that patients receiving atypical antipsychotic drugs are at increased risk for developing diabetes mellitus. The purpose of this study is to examine the prevalence of diabetes in a group of adults with schizophrenia and other severe mental disorders receiving atypical antipsychotic drugs within a community mental health center setting.

Method: A retrospective chart review was conducted on 436 outpatients receiving either atypical antipsychotic or decanoate antipsychotic drugs at a community mental health center.