Patients With First-Episode Psychosis are Not a Homogeneous Population: Implications for Treatment.

Objective: This study aimed at defining the characteristics of a population of patients diagnosed with first-episode psychosis (FEP), and accessing for the first time a center for early intervention in psychosis in the health district of Milan and its surroundings.

Methods: Patients were included in the study from January 2007 to December 2008; criteria: first contact with any public mental health service of the catchment area for a first episode of schizophrenia or related syndromes according to the ICD-10 criteria. Cluster analysis was used to divide patients into groups based on the main socio-demographic and clinical characteristics at presentation.

Prospective performance evaluation of emergency medical services for cardiac arrest in Lombardia: is something moving forward?

Background: Limited data are available in our region on out-of-hospital treatment of cardiac arrest. The aim of this study is to evaluate whether the changes implemented in the emergency system (i.e.

[Antidepressant and antipsychotic drug prescribing in Lombardy].

Background: The patterns of antidepressant and antipsychotic drug prescribing have rarely been studied in large and geographically defined catchment areas. In the present study we examined the prevalence and distribution of antidepressant and antipsychotic prescribing in Lombardy, a northern Italy region of nine million inhabitants.

Methods: This study used the Regional Administrative Database of Lombardy.

Second-generation antipsychotics and risk of cerebrovascular accidents in the elderly.

Concern has been recently raised for risperidone and olanzapine, possibly associated with cerebrovascular events in placebo-controlled trials conducted in elderly subjects with dementia. We investigated the relationship between exposure to second-generation antipsychotics (SGAs) and occurrence of cerebrovascular accidents in the elderly. From the regional database of hospital admissions of Lombardy, Italy, we extracted all patients aged 65 or older with cerebrovascular-related outcomes for the year 2002.

Epidemiology of first- and second-generation antipsychotic agents in Lombardy, Italy.

Introduction: This study investigated the age and gender distribution of antipsychotic prescribing in Lombardy, a region of nine million inhabitants in northern Italy.

Methods: From the Regional Administrative Database of Lombardy, all ambulatory prescriptions of antipsychotics dispensed during 2001 were extracted and prevalence data were calculated by dividing users by the total number of male and female residents in each age group.

Results: During the study period 86,187 subjects were dispensed antipsychotic agents, yielding a prevalence of use of 0.