Schizophrenia News

Despite an elevated risk for type 2 diabetes, adults with a severe mental illness who take antipsychotic medications are rarely screened for the disease, according to research published in JAMA Internal Medicine.

A meta-analysis indicated individuals with psychosis exhibit ventral striatal hypoactivation during reward anticipation, reward feedback and reward prediction error.

Initiation of clozapine among individuals with treatment-resistant schizophrenia was associated with lower rates of psychiatric hospital admission, index antipsychotic discontinuation and use of additional antipsychotics compared with initiation of a standard antipsychotic, according to recent study results.

Low-threshold, motivational, integrated treatment programs with psychoeducative and behavioral therapeutic elements may be useful to treat individuals with a dual diagnosis of schizophrenia and addiction, according to recent findings.

Recent data show Kv11.1 channels influence the efficacy of antipsychotics, particularly risperidone, for schizophrenia, further suggesting the utility of genotype-guided therapy for individuals with schizophrenia.

Measures of gating deficits had significantly increased heritability among families multiply affected by schizophrenia compared with families singly affected by the disease, suggesting commonality of genes underlying schizophrenia and gating deficits.

Adults with schizophrenia had a higher mortality rate compared with the general population in the U.S., with cardiovascular disease as the leading cause of death.

Recent findings suggest that schizophrenia is a heterogeneous group of disorders that can be distinguished by different patterns of fractional anisotropy reductions associated with clinical symptoms.

A comprehensive first-episode psychosis treatment program is effective and implementation is feasible in U.S. community clinics, according to results from the NIMH Recovery After an Initial Schizophrenia Episode-Early Treatment Program study.

CMS recently released an informational bulletin intended to assist states in designing a benefit package for early treatment intervention options for youth experiencing first-episode psychosis.