3 results
The Prevalence of Traumatic Brain Injury and ADHD in Secure Settings
- David Kelsey, Alex J. Berry, Filipa Alves-Costa, Matthew Loughran, Salma Ameir, Richard Taylor
-
- Journal:
- BJPsych Open / Volume 9 / Issue S1 / July 2023
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 07 July 2023, pp. S8-S9
-
- Article
-
- You have access Access
- Open access
- Export citation
-
Aims
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is highly prevalent in prison populations, with an estimated prevalence of 51%-82% according to a 2018 review. TBI has been linked to higher rates of interpersonal violence, recidivism, suicide, higher drop-out rates in rehabilitation programmes, and lower age of first conviction. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been shown to be associated with an increased risk of interpersonal violence, and previous TBI. Little is known about prevalence of TBI or ADHD amongst inpatients in secure psychiatric settings in the UK. We aimed to estimate the prevalence of TBI and ADHD in inpatients admitted to a psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) and to low and medium secure units across three London mental health NHS trusts.
Methods60 male participants were identified through prospective purposive sampling. Three questionnaires were administered: the Brain Injury screening Index (BISI); Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale v1.1 (ASRS); and the Brief-Barkley Adult ADHD Rating scale (B-BAARS). We also reviewed medical records of participants, age, psychiatric diagnoses, level of education, and convictions for violent and/or non-violent offences, number of admissions, and length of current admission. Ethical approval was granted by the local research ethics committee
Results67.8% of participants screened positive for a history of head injury, and 68.3% and 32.2% screened positive on the ASRS and B-BAARS respectively. 38.33% recorded greater than one head injury on the BISI. The most commonly recorded psychiatric diagnoses were schizophrenia (43.33%), schizoaffective disorder (23.33%), Bipolar Affective Disorder (11.67%), and Unspecified Non-Organic Psychosis (10.00%). Screening positive on ASRS was associated with screening positive for previous head injuries BISI (p = 0.01, ꭕ2). No other statistical associations were identified.
ConclusionA relatively high proportion of participants screened positive for head injury and ADHD in this population. A history of head injury was associated with positive screening on the ASRS, which is consistent with previously reported associations between these conditions in other populations. A similar relationship was not seen with the B-BAARS however, and it is notable that fewer participants in the sample screened positive on the B-BAARS than using the ASRS. Few (n = 5) patients were able to provide detailed descriptions of head injuries using the BISI, suggesting that the BISI may not be suitable in this specific population as a screening tool.
Predicting risks of physical health deterioration in a place of safety
- Alex Berry, Florence Dalton, Michael Dunning, Freddie Johansson
-
- Journal:
- BJPsych Open / Volume 7 / Issue S1 / June 2021
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 18 June 2021, p. S8
-
- Article
-
- You have access Access
- Open access
- Export citation
-
Aims
Healthcare triage for those subject to section 136 powers (MHA 1983/2007) remains challenging. Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust opened a dedicated Health-Based Place of Safety (HBPOS) in 2020, situated separately from an emergency department (ED). There was concern that this may lead to physical health problems going unrecognised. We aimed to design a simple, efficient algorithm to be used by non-medically-trained staff to identify those who are subject to s.136 powers who would benefit from medical clearance before being admitted to the HBPOS
MethodWe chaired a consensus meeting with nursing staff, police and emergency medicine consultants when designing the algorithm. Case notes of those presenting under s.136 to the POS over 1 calendar-month in 2019 were reviewed, and the proportion of those who the algorithm would have diverted for medical clearance was calculated. We then reviewed the proportion of cases sent for medical clearance during a single calendar month in 2020, after the HBPOS had opened, to see whether there was a significant difference.
Result37 patients were admitted to the ED-based POS in July 2019, of which 36 records were analysed. 9 patients (25%) were referred for medical clearance, with 2 (6%) requiring medical admission. 8.6% were identified as needing medical clearance when the algorithm was applied retrospectively (positive predictive value 66%, negative predictive value = 79%).
Review of records over 1 calendar-month after the HBPOS was established showed 30.6% of patients had been diverted for medical clearance prior to entering the HBPOS. Of the 65 patients, 1 (2%) required transfer to ED within 48 hours of entry. No statistical difference in the proportion of patients sent for medical clearance was observed since the formation of the HBPOS away from the ED (Chi-squared = 0.549, p = 0.458), suggesting the algorithm successfully identified those patients who needed medical clearance prior to admission.
We observed high rates of intoxication amongst those admitted (30–40%).
ConclusionThe algorithm showed high specificity and negative predictive value, allowing for a degree of confidence when admitting those deemed at low-risk of physical deterioration, though it does not eliminate the need for clinical judgement. Interpretation of the results is complicated by the COVID19 pandemic in 2020, which was not accounted for in the algorithm, which possibly led to deviations from the algorithm in real-world clinical practice.
Scientific access into Mercer Subglacial Lake: scientific objectives, drilling operations and initial observations
- John C. Priscu, Jonas Kalin, John Winans, Timothy Campbell, Matthew R. Siegfried, Mark Skidmore, John E. Dore, Amy Leventer, David M. Harwood, Dennis Duling, Robert Zook, Justin Burnett, Dar Gibson, Edward Krula, Anatoly Mironov, Jim McManis, Graham Roberts, Brad E. Rosenheim, Brent C. Christner, Kathy Kasic, Helen A. Fricker, W. Berry Lyons, Joel Barker, Mark Bowling, Billy Collins, Christina Davis, Al Gagnon, Christopher Gardner, Chloe Gustafson, Ok-Sun Kim, Wei Li, Alex Michaud, Molly O. Patterson, Martyn Tranter, Ryan Venturelli, Trista Vick-Majors, Cooper Elsworth, The SALSA Science Team
-
- Journal:
- Annals of Glaciology / Volume 62 / Issue 85-86 / September 2021
- Published online by Cambridge University Press:
- 08 June 2021, pp. 340-352
-
- Article
-
- You have access Access
- Open access
- HTML
- Export citation
-
The Subglacial Antarctic Lakes Scientific Access (SALSA) Project accessed Mercer Subglacial Lake using environmentally clean hot-water drilling to examine interactions among ice, water, sediment, rock, microbes and carbon reservoirs within the lake water column and underlying sediments. A ~0.4 m diameter borehole was melted through 1087 m of ice and maintained over ~10 days, allowing observation of ice properties and collection of water and sediment with various tools. Over this period, SALSA collected: 60 L of lake water and 10 L of deep borehole water; microbes >0.2 μm in diameter from in situ filtration of ~100 L of lake water; 10 multicores 0.32–0.49 m long; 1.0 and 1.76 m long gravity cores; three conductivity–temperature–depth profiles of borehole and lake water; five discrete depth current meter measurements in the lake and images of ice, the lake water–ice interface and lake sediments. Temperature and conductivity data showed the hydrodynamic character of water mixing between the borehole and lake after entry. Models simulating melting of the ~6 m thick basal accreted ice layer imply that debris fall-out through the ~15 m water column to the lake sediments from borehole melting had little effect on the stratigraphy of surficial sediment cores.