Safety and tolerability of antipsychotic-mood stabilizer co-treatment in the management of acute bipolar disorder: results from a systematic review and exploratory meta-analysis.

Introduction: Mood stabilizer (MS) plus antipsychotic (AP) co-treatment is common in patients with acute bipolar disorder (BD), but adverse effects (AEs) of this strategy have not been systematically reviewed.

Areas Covered: We conducted a systematic review searching PubMed/MEDLINE and PsycINFO on April 1, 2015 for randomized trials in ≥ 20 adults with acute manic/mixed or depressed BD comparing MS or AP monotherapy with their combination that reported quantitative AE data. Pooled together, MS+AP versus MS monotherapy (studies = 18, n = 4419) was associated with significantly higher burden regarding 21/53 (39.

Comparing kept appointment rates when calls are made by physicians versus behavior health technicians in inner city hospital: literature review and cost considerations.

Dropping out of scheduled care leads to medication non adherence, increased morbidity, relapse and readmission rates. As part of a performance improvement project to increase attendance rates at our outpatient clinic, psychiatric residents and Behavioral Health Technicians made reminder telephone calls under similar circumstances. We compared follow up appointment rates in the two groups.