Primary prevention strategies, including smoking cessation, dietary and exercise interventions, and judicious psychotropic prescribing, should be emphasized to improve life expectancy in serious mental illness.
People with serious mental illness have a reduced life expectancy that is partly attributable to increased cardiovascular disease. One approach to address this is regular physical health monitoring. However, physical health monitoring is poorly implemented in everyday clinical practice and there is little evidence to suggest that it improves physical health. We argue that greater emphasis should be placed on primary prevention strategies such as assertive smoking cessation, dietary and exercise interventions and more judicious psychotropic prescribing.
Ilyas et al. (Fri,) conducted a review in Serious mental illness. Primary prevention strategies (smoking cessation, diet, exercise, judicious prescribing) vs. Physical health monitoring was evaluated. Primary prevention strategies, including smoking cessation, dietary and exercise interventions, and judicious psychotropic prescribing, should be emphasized to improve life expectancy in serious mental illness.