Physical Comorbidities among Mental Health Population

Dear Colleagues,

People with mental illness have a shorter lifespan than the general population. Of all the various contributing factors, physical comorbidities are among the main reasons for these premature deaths. Cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory diseases, cancer and metabolic diseases are common physical illnesses reported. The reasons for the increased prevalence of these diseases could be multiple, ranging from socioeconomic factors, to lifestyle practices and the use of psychotropic medications. It is important to gain an in-depth understanding of the various factors contributing to the condition, to get an insight on how to prevent/treat them early. Besides, preventive care and early monitoring is not practiced in this group of people, due to the fragmented healthcare delivery that limits their access to physical healthcare in psychiatric hospitals. While the lack of an integrated care system is a major challenge for treating those with comorbid physical illnesses, the role of other unknown barriers should not be ignored. Post-discharge follow up and management is an important but rather unexplored area.

This Special Issue welcomes papers that investigate physical illnesses among the mental health population at population level and among treatment seekers. This issue aims to collate papers that address various aspects of physical comorbidities, including the prevalence of various conditions, risk factors, treatment outcomes, diagnostic/screening tools, barriers for care delivery, and management at community level.

• Prevalence of physical comorbidities
• Multimorbidity
• Mortality
• Risk factors
• Approaches to improve the treatment outcomes
• Treatment needs of mental health population with multimorbidity
• Evidence-based treatment guidelines or preventive screening strategies
• Barriers for screening, preventing and managing physical illnesses in psychiatric settings
• Challenges or factors that facilitate proper management post-discharge

Dr. Pezhummoottil Vasudevan Nair Asharani
Dr. Mohamed Zakir Karuvetil
Dr. Anitha Jeyagurunathan
Guest Editors

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