ed light on pathologic processes underlying psychosis in primary psychiatric disorders. © Copyright 2020 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.BACKGROUND Psychiatric patients are known to be at high risk of developing cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), leading to an increased mortality rate. selleck inhibitor OBJECTIVE To assess the CVD risk (presence of metabolic syndrome [MetS] and calculated 10-year CVD risk) in a Swiss psychiatric cohort taking weight gain-inducing psychotropic drugs, compare the findings to a Swiss population-based cohort, and evaluate the prevalence of participants treated for metabolic disruptions in both cohorts. METHODS Data for 1,216 psychiatric patients (of whom 634 were aged 35-75 years) were obtained between 2007 and 2017 from a study with metabolic parameters monitored during psychotropic treatment and between 2003 and 2006 for 6,733 participants from the population-based CoLaus|PsyCoLaus study. RESULTS MetS as defined by the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) was identified in 33% of the psychiatric participants and 24.7% of the population-based subjects. Specifically, prevalence per the IDF definition was more than 3 times higher in the psychiatric cohort among women aged 35 to 49 years (25.6% vs 8.0%; P 5% 8.5% vs 8.4% [P = .58] in women and 13.4% vs 16.6% [P = .42] in men). No difference was observed among the proportion of participants with MetS treated for metabolic disturbances in the two cohorts, with the exception of women aged 35-49 years, for whom those in the psychiatric cohort were half as likely to receive treatment compared to participants in CoLaus|PsyCoLaus (17.8% vs 38.8% per the IDF definition; P = .0004). CONCLUSIONS These findings emphasize the concern that psychiatric patients present an altered metabolic profile and that they do not receive adequate treatment for metabolic disruptions. Presence of metabolic disturbances should be routinely assessed, and adequate follow-up is needed to intervene early after illness onset. © Copyright 2020 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.Many observational studies have found an association between antidepressant drug prescription during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism spectrum disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, and intellectual disability. The results of such studies cannot be considered conclusive because of the possible presence of inadequately measured, unmeasured, and unknown confounds. In this context, maternal anemia before or at but not after 30 weeks of gestation was recently associated with an increased risk of all 3 of these neurodevelopmental disorders. Additionally, meta-analysis has shown that maternal anemia during pregnancy is associated with other adverse gestational outcomes, as well. Given that anemia is common during pregnancy, and that iron deficiency during pregnancy can compromise neurodevelopment in the offspring, it is clear that maternal anemia during pregnancy should be included as a confound that is adjusted for in analyses in studies of psychotropic drugs in pregnancy. However, many studies that significantly associated gestational exposure to antidepressants with adverse pregnancy outcomes did not adjust for maternal anemia during pregnancy. This issue is not merely academic because studies with such "significant" findings discourage depressed pregnant women from accepting antidepressants; therefore, women and their unborn children may risk experiencing the known harms associated with untreated depression during pregnancy. Additionally, such "significant" findings may provoke unjustified guilt in women who do use antidepressants during pregnancy, especially if the pregnancy is associated with an adverse outcome. Whereas this is not an endorsement of the unquestioning use of antidepressants during pregnancy, it does imply that those who argue against medication use during pregnancy should re-examine the science on which their views are based. © Copyright 2020 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.Many individuals with schizophrenia experience multiple relapses, which are associated with serious and potentially fatal outcomes. Nonadherence to antipsychotic medications is a major contributor to relapse. By using reliable strategies to measure adherence and identify patients who are not taking their medications as prescribed, clinicians can intervene to possibly prevent relapse or decrease its severity. © Copyright 2020 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare the effect of continuing and discontinuing medications on quality of life of patients with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). DATA SOURCES PubMed, Cochrane Library, and Embase databases were searched using generic terms for ADHD, discontinuing, continuing, pharmacotherapy, and randomized controlled trials without date or language restrictions. STUDY SELECTION Of the 3,672 screened studies, 9 met the predefined inclusion criteria on patients with ADHD; 5 of these 9 studies reporting on 1,463 patients (children and adolescents, n = 894; adults, n = 569) measured quality of life and were included in this meta-analysis. Only randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled withdrawal trials of ADHD medications were included. DATA EXTRACTION Data were independently extracted according to the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions. Analyses were based on random-effects models. RESULTS Compared with continuing medications, discontinuing them significantly worsened quality of life score in patients with ADHD (standardized mean difference [SMD] = 0.19; 95% CI, 0.08 to 0.30]). Moreover, discontinuing medications worsened this score in children and adolescents with ADHD (SMD = 0.21; 95% CI, 0.06 to 0.36) but not in adults with ADHD (SMD = 0.02; 95% CI, -0.46 to 0.50). CONCLUSIONS Discontinuing medications was associated with a small but statistically significant decrease in quality of life among children and adolescents with ADHD but not in adults with ADHD. Quality of life can be applied in pharmacologic interventions regarding continuing and discontinuing medication because this concept is related to individuals' appraisal of their situation. Quality of life is an important factor for planning individualized ADHD medication treatment. © Copyright 2020 Physicians Postgraduate Press, Inc.