title: Clinicians' adherence to clinical practice guidelines for cardiac function monitoring during antipsychotic treatment: a retrospective report on 434 patients with severe mental illness.
abstract: Severe mental illness (SMI) has considerable excess morbidity and mortality, a proportion of which is explained by cardiovascular diseases, caused in part by antipsychotic (AP) induced QT-related arrhythmias and sudden death by Torsade de Point (TdP). The implementation of evidence-based recommendations for cardiac function monitoring might reduce the incidence of these AP-related adverse events. To investigate clinicians' adherence to cardiac function monitoring before and after starting AP, we performed a retrospective assessment of 434 AP-treated SMI patients longitudinally followed-up for 5 years at an academic community mental health center.
  
  
  
  We classified antipsychotics according to their risk of inducing QT-related arrhythmias and TdP (Center for Research on Therapeutics, University of Arizona). We used univariate tests and multinomial or binary logistic regression model for data analysis.
  
  
  
  Univariate and multinomial regression analysis showed that psychiatrists were more likely to perform pre-treatment electrocardiogram (ECG) and electrolyte testing with AP carrying higher cardiovascular risk, but not on the basis of AP pharmacological class. Univariate and binomial regression analysis showed that cardiac function parameters (ECG and electrolyte balance) were more frequently monitored during treatment with second generation AP than with first generation AP.
  
  
  
  Our data show the presence of weaknesses in the cardiac function monitoring of AP-treated SMI patients, and might guide future interventions to tackle them.
authors.affiliation: Section of Psychiatry, Department of Medical Science and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Via Liguria 13, 09127, Cagliari, Italy. mirkomanchia@unica.it.|Department of Pharmacology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada. mirkomanchia@unica.it.
authors.forename: Mirko
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4175-6413
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Manchia
authors.affiliation: Section of Psychiatry, Department of Medical Science and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Via Liguria 13, 09127, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Giorgio
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Firinu
authors.affiliation: Section of Psychiatry, Department of Medical Science and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Via Liguria 13, 09127, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Bernardo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Carpiniello
authors.affiliation: Section of Psychiatry, Department of Medical Science and Public Health, University of Cagliari, Via Liguria 13, 09127, Cagliari, Italy.
authors.forename: Federica
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pinna
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D014150:Antipsychotic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D004562:Electrocardiography / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000503:physiopathology*; D008991:Monitoring, Physiologic / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards; D011570:Psychiatry / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D058028:Research Report; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D014150:Antipsychotic Agents
keywords: ECG; Electrolytes; Excess mortality; Side effects; Torsade de point