Chris Hollis appraises a recent Cochrane systematic review, which casts doubt over the quality of trial evidence and the clinical effectiveness of Methylphenidate for ADHD.
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John Baker summarises a review of commonly prescribed medication that covers seven psychiatric drugs, including antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, amphetamines, methylphenidate and cholinesterase inhibitors.
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Joff Jones highlights an important public health finding from a recent prospective cohort study about the effect of stimulant drugs on the risk of injuries in children with ADHD.
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Ian Cummins considers the implications of a new cohort study of convicted prisoners in Sweden, which links psychiatric disorders with violent reoffending.
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A warm woodland welcome to Joff Jones who pens his debut Mental Elf blog today about this new HTA report of non-pharmacological interventions for ADHD delivered in school settings.
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David Steele summarises a review of systematic reviews and meta-analyses, which looks at the mediators and moderators of the placebo effect in psychiatry.
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Helge Hasselman summarises a Cochrane review of tricyclic antidepressants for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children and adolescents, which finds low quality evidence and no justification for prescribing these drugs in this group of patients.
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Amy Green summarises a retrospective observational study that finds prenatal antidepressant exposure is associated with risk for ADHD, but not autistic spectrum disorders. She considers this complex topic and works out what it all means for pregnant women with depression.
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This recent and well-conducted meta-review concludes that the impact on mortality and suicide of mental disorders is substantial, and probably poorly appreciated as a public health problem. Raphael Underwood’s blog summarises the data for all-cause and suicide mortality in mental disorders.
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Research suggests that the risk of developing psychiatric problems (such as autism spectrum disorder, intellectual disability or schizophrenia) may be linked to increased paternal age at the time of conception. This seems quite plausible given that advancing age in men is associated with increased genetic mutations in sperm. However, studies so far have generally not [read the full story…]
