Impact of the spanish consensus on physical health of patients with schizophrenia

Abstract

Introduction: This study evaluates the physical health of patients with schizophrenia and analyzes the change in the percentage of patients with evaluations in the known diabetes and cardiovascular risk predictors before and 6 months after the dissemination of the "Consensus on Physical Health in Schizophrenia Patients". Material and methods: This is an epidemiological non-interventional and transversal study, in which 229 psychiatrists evaluated 1,193 clinical records of patients with a diagnose of schizophrenia according to ICD-10, attended in the psychiatry consultations planned in January and September of 2007. Study results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: 1,193 evaluable patients were included, with a mean age of 39.7±11.6 years, diagnosed of schizophrenia 15.0±10.3 years ago, and a 65.90% were men. The presence of concomitant diseases was 39.98%, being hypercholesterolemia (46.33%), hypertriglyceridaemia (33.54%) and arterial hypertension (26.00%) the most frequent. After the dissemination of the Consensus, the percentage of patients who had all the physical measurements taken increased by 13.75%. Forty eight per cent of the psychiatrists were considered as being aware of the Consensus. The percentage of measurements taken was higher within the psychiatrists who were aware of the Consensus (17.32%) than within those who were not aware of it (10.33%). Conclusions: The results of this study show an increase of the physical health control from patients with schizophrenia after the dissemination of the Consensus, which should improve an integral approach of these patients to ensure a similar life expectancy, quality of life and function to the general population. © 2010 SEP and SEPB. Published by Elsevier España, S.L. All rights reserved.