No evidence for benefit of physical healthcare monitoring for people with serious mental illness therapy

January 01, 0001

No evidence for benefit of physical healthcare monitoring for people with serious mental illness

Clinical Question: How effective is physical healthcare monitoring as a means of reducing morbidity and mortality, and maintaining quality of life in people with serious mental illnesses (such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder)?

Bottom line: Despite the amount of guidance available, no relevant studies were found. Consequently, there is no evidence from randomised controlled trials that physical health monitoring in people with severe mental illness is useful in preventing deterioration in physical health and maintaining quality of life.

Context: Guidance and practice are based on expert consensus, clinical experience and good intentions rather than high-quality evidence. It is possible clinicians are expending much effort, time and financial expenditure on monitoring the physical health of people with serious mental illness, which is unnecessary, intrusive and costly.

Context: In recent years, there has been an increasing focus on the physical health of people who suffer from mental illness; it has been recognised these individuals are at greater risk of physical health problems for a variety of reasons. There are now a number of different guidelines advising how practitioners should monitor physical health in this population.

Cochrane Systematic Review: Tosh G et al. Physical health monitoring for people with serious mental illness. Cochrane Reviews, 2010, Issue 3. Article No. CD008298. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD008298.pub2. No studies met the criteria for this review.

Cochrane PEARLS Practical Evidence About Real Life Situations. No. 271, June 2010. .
Written by Brian R McAvoy. Published by the Cochrane Primary Care Group

Category: P. Psychological. Keywords: serious mental illness, healthcare, monitoring, morbidity, mortality
Synopsis edited by Dr Linda French, Toledo, Ohio. Posted on Global Family Doctor 9 November 2010

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care

To obtain Pearls directly, sign up here for the english language version

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.