Despite the fact that individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) are two to three times more likely to have type II diabetes than the general population, low-income patients on Medicaid are rarely screened for it, according to a new study led by the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF).
The findings support growing efforts to integrate mental health services with primary care to improve diagnosis and treatment of health issues associated with mental illness, the researchers said.
Although many factors contribute to the increased risk, treatment with antipsychotic medication raises the risk for diabetes even further. The American Diabetes Association and American Psychiatric Association both recommend that physicians conduct annual diabetes screening for any patients taking antipsychotic medications, but until now it has been unclear how often screenings actually occur.
[For more of this story, written by Traci Pedersen, go to http://psychcentral.com/news/2...high-risk/94851.html]
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