Addressing the health risks of antipsychotic medication (ATHRAM)

Lead

Dr Seren Roberts
Research Fellow in Health Services Research

Summary

ATHRAM is a clinical research group supported by the Mental Health Research Network Cymru (MHRNC) (http://www.mhrnc.org). The overarching aim of the group is to bring together key academics and clinicians with a particular interest in the physical health risks associated with antipsychotic medication. The intention of the group is to facilitate large-scale research within Wales (and wider afield) on this topic.

We are committed to:

1. identifying interventions or good practices that have been shown to reduce health risks associate with antipsychotic medication (e.g., screening, exercise or healthy living programmes etc.)
2. rigorously evaluating innovative interventions or practices to provide evidence of the appropriateness, feasibility, applicability, and the clinical- and cost-effectiveness of such interventions
3. securing adequate funding and resources to undertake the proposed research

Antipsychotic medication is the treatment of choice for schizophrenia. People with schizophrenia have a mortality rate up to four times higher than that of the general public, and have higher rates of myocardial infarctions, arrhythmias and new-onset diabetes than matched healthy individuals. This might reflect unhealthy lifestyles typical in this population but there is growing concern that atypical antipsychotics are associated with a series of additional physical health risks. These include significant weight gain, increased risks of developing type II diabetes and hypertriglyceridemia, all of which can have serious implications for the individual’s cardiovascular health. As many as 50% of patients gain substantial body weight during long-term antipsychotic therapy. Thus, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that antipsychotic medication can be detrimental to the general health of the individuals taking them and that antipsychotics vary in the extent to which they contribute to adverse health outcomes (e.g. such as obesity, diabetes and so forth).

We hypothesise that there will be

(1) individual differences that will influence the nature and extent of adverse health outcomes, for example

1. demographics (e.g. sex, age and socio-economic status)
2. personality characteristics
3. pharmacogenetic and physical predictors
4. co-morbidity
5. cognition (e.g. illness and treatment beliefs)

(2) early interventions and preventative measures to minimise the adverse health outcomes
(3) evidence-based physical and psychosocial interventions that could effectively combat those adverse health outcomes once they have occurred.

Contact details

North Wales Section of Psychological Medicine
University of Wales Bangor
Academic Unit
Wrexham Techology Park
Wrexham
LL13 7YP

Tel: 01978 727406
Email 1: seren.roberts@new-tr.wales.nhs.uk