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Approximately 60 000 people in England have coexisting type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and severe mental illness (SMI). They are more likely to have poorer health outcomes and require more complex care pathways compared with those with T2DM alone. Despite increasing prevalence, little is known about the healthcare resource use and costs for people with both conditions.
Aims
To assess the impact of SMI on healthcare resource use and service costs for adults with T2DM, and explore the predictors of healthcare costs and lifetime costs for people with both conditions.
Method
This was a matched-cohort study using data from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink linked to Hospital Episode Statistics for 1620 people with comorbid SMI and T2DM and 4763 people with T2DM alone. Generalised linear models and the Bang and Tsiatis method were used to explore cost predictors and mean lifetime costs respectively.
Results
There were higher average annual costs for people with T2DM and SMI (£1930 higher) than people with T2DM alone, driven primarily by mental health and non-mental health-related hospital admissions. Key predictors of higher total costs were older age, comorbid hypertension, use of antidepressants, use of first-generation antipsychotics, and increased duration of living with both conditions. Expected lifetime costs were approximately £35 000 per person with both SMI and T2DM. Extrapolating nationally, this would generate total annual costs to the National Health Service of around £250 m per year.
Conclusions
Our estimates of resource use and costs for people with both T2DM and SMI will aid policymakers and commissioners in service planning and resource allocation.
Recent qualitative research suggests that changes to the way eligibility for welfare payments is determined in the UK may be detrimental to claimants with mental illnesses. No large-scale analysis has been undertaken to date.
Aims
To examine differences between claimants with psychiatric conditions compared with non-psychiatric conditions in the number of claims disallowed following a personal independence payment (PIP) eligibility assessment for existing disability living allowance (DLA) claimants.
Method
Administrative data on DLA claimants with psychiatric conditions transferring to PIP between 2013 and 2016 was compared with claimants with non-psychiatric conditions to explore differences in the number of claims disallowed following an eligibility assessment.
Results
Claimants with a mental illness were 2.40 (95% CI 2.36–2.44) times more likely to have their existing DLA entitlement removed following a PIP eligibility assessment than claimants with musculoskeletal conditions, neurological conditions and diabetes.
Conclusions
PIP eligibility assessment outcomes show marked differences by health condition, raising questions as to whether the process is equitable.
In this editorial, we discuss a UK-based cohort study examining the mortality gap for people with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder from 2000 to 2014. There have been concerted efforts to improve physical and mental healthcare for this population in recent decades. Have these initiatives reduced mortality and ‘closed the gap’?
There are limited data on detection disparities of common mental
disorders in minority ethnic women.
Aims
Describe the natural history of common mental disorders in primary care
in the maternal period, characterise women with, and explore ethnic
disparities in, detected and potentially missed common mental
disorders.
Method
Secondary analyses of linked birth cohort and primary care data involving
8991 (39.4% White British) women in Bradford. Common mental disorders
were characterised through indications in the electronic medical record.
Potentially missed common mental disorders were defined as an elevated
General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-28) score during pregnancy with no
corresponding common mental disorder markers in the medical record.
Results
Estimated prevalence of pre-birth common mental disorders was 9.5%,
rising to 14.0% 3 years postnatally. Up to half of cases were potentially
missed. Compared with White British women, minority ethnic women were
twice as likely to have potentially missed common mental disorders and
half as likely to have a marker of screening for common mental
disorders.
Conclusions
Common mental disorder detection disparities exist for minority ethnic
women in the maternal period.
The Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI) uses administrative data to count children living in households in receipt of both in-work and out-of-work means-tested benefits and provides small area ranking as an indicator of child poverty in neighbourhoods. Benefit take-up rates within an area will affect its reliability. We aimed to examine benefit take-up rates and compare area ranking by the IDACI with ranking using individually reported data across areas of varying ethnic composition. Mothers living in areas with high minority ethnic density were less likely to report claiming a benefit than those in majority White or mixed areas, despite reporting lower incomes. The correlation between self-reported material difficulties and worsening IDACI rank was much lower in areas characterised by minority ethnic populations. Further investigation into the performance of area-based deprivation measures in areas with high minority ethnic density is needed.
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