In Spain, consumption of psychotropic drugs is high and benzodiazepines represent 74% of the total. His prescription in primary care is very common and their use continues to grow. They are safe and effective drugs, but patients with prolonged use are elaborating the most adverse effects, particularly the dependency.

Descriptive ans cross-sectional.

Primary Health Care.

We seleted 202 patients treated with benzodiazepines, consecutive sample, belonging to the health center Los Barrio who were seen in consultation during 2009.

We conducted through a questionnaire that cointained the treatment and demographic characteristics.

We detect a frequency of use of benzodiazepines 9% (95% CI 4,7-12,1%). The profile of the consumer responds to middle-aged woman, with primary and housewives. Somatic diseases were associated in 72.6% (CI 67,2-77,5%) and had mental pathology at 59.7% (CI 53,9-65,3%). 35% (95% 29,6-40,6%) of prescribed benzodiazepines were clorazape dipotassium. Consumption was constant for over a year. The prescription from primary care represents 81% (95% 76,3-85,4%) and in 65% (CI 59,3-70,3%) is associated with other psychoactive drug.

In our area, highlights the prescription of benzodiazepines from primary care on demand and consumption during prolonged time. Interventions should be conducted on the prescription of benzodiazepines in medical and other interventions for patient support.

Up to 45% of individuals who commit suicide contact their Primary Care physician (PCP) the month before. The objective is to study clinical characteristics of patients presenting death and/or suicidal ideation (SI) in Primary Care.

195 patients attending their PCP were evaluated using systematic sampling in three Primary Care Centres. Patients completed the PHQ and a Life Changes Checklist. Demographic data, both psychiatric and medical conditions and treatments, visits to their PCP, and days out of work (last year) were also collected.

24 patients had death or suicidal ideation for the previous two weeks (12,4%; IC95% 8,3-18,8%). Most of them (87,5%) had a mental disease, major depressive disorder (62,5%) and general anxiety disorder (50%). Patients with SI had more somatic symptoms (p<0,001), a greater number and score of recent life changes (p<0,001) and days out of work (last year) ((p=0,028) than the rest of the sample.

Compared to patients with any psychiatric disorder, patients with SI had more depressive symptoms (p<0,001) and a higher score in life changes in the 6-12 month period (p=0,044).

14 (58,3%) patients with SI had no previous psychiatric diagnosis and only 8 (33%) were receiving treatment.

In spite of a greater severity in depressive and other clinical characteristics of patients with SI most of them are not correctly detected and treated. Improving the rate of detection and treatment by the PCP of such patients would probably play a key role in the prevention of suicide.

Previous data suggest that there is an important group of patients between primary care (PC) attendees suffering a psychiatric disorder that remain undetected. Our aim was to know data about this group of patients compared with patients without psychiatric pathology (PWP) and patients with already known psychiatric pathology (PKP).

A random sample of 225 subjects older than 18 years old, from 3 PC Centres of the area of Madrid (Spain) completed the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ). Data about medical and psychiatric conditions, drug treatments, days of work lost (last year) and use of health care services (last 3 months), were also collected. Psychiatric and clinical characteristics between groups were compared.

50 (22,2%) patients were suffering a psychiatric condition according to PHQ but without recognition by their general practioner. This group of patients were younger than PWP and PKP (ANOVA; p=0,021 and p=0,013). They were suffering more depressive symptoms and somatic complaints than PWP (p<0,001 and p<0,001 respectively). In terms of days of work lost and use of health care services did not differ from PWP.

The results suggest that other reasons rather than the symptomathology (depresive symptoms, somatic complaints) may be important in the proccess of detection of mental health problems in PC. Both days of work lost and the number of visits to general practioner appear to be two determinant factors.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) seems to be a prevalent condition in Primary Care (PC) with high rates of comorbidity and health care use. The aim of this study is to describe the characteristics and patterns of comorbidity in patients with suspected BPD.

192 consecutive primary health care patients completed the IPDE screening questionnaire, CAGE and the Prime-MD patient questionnaire, and were interviewed by a general practitioner (GP) using the Prime-MD. Number of visits to the GP (last year), medical illnesses and treatments were also collected. “High Risk” of BPD group (RBPDg) was defined by scoring 4 or higher in the IPDE, and it was compared to patients without psychiatric morbidity and patients with any psychiatric disorder but not BPD's risk.

39 (20,3%) patients fulfilled the condition of RBPDg. Compared to the group of patients without psychiatry pathology (n=110) RBPDg had a higher number of visits to their GP (last year) (p<0,001), more somatic complaints (p<0,001), a worse health perception (p<0,001) and higher rates of alcohol abuse or dependence (p=0,016).

In the RBPDg we found a high rate of axis I disorders, mainly major depressive disorder (MDD) (40,0%) and generalized anxiety disorder (33,3%). Furthermore, they had a lower level of education (p=0,03) and a higher rate of MDD (p=0,026) than patients with psychiatric pathology but without risk of BPD (n=43).

Borderline personality traits or disorder could be present in many depressive patients seen in PC. GP's knowledge about personality disorders needs to be improved

Metabolic syndrome is a frequent, severe, undiagnosed physical comorbidity in patients with severe mental disorders.

To develop a predictive model of metabolic syndrome for patients with schizophrenic or bipolar disorders, useful for both clinical practice and research.

Naturalistic, one-year follow-up study conducted in Asturias, Spain. A total of 172 patients with schizophrenic (Sch-P) or bipolar (BD-P) disorders (ICD-10 criteria), under maintenance treatment, who gave written informed consent were included. Metabolic syndrome was defined according to the modified NCEP ATP-III criteria. Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS), Genetic Algorithms (GA), and Support Vector Machine (SVM) analysis were performed.

Starting from a large set of demographic and clinical variables, and by means of intermediate MARS and GA models, an SVM model able to classify if a patient with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder suffers from metabolic syndrome with an accuracy of 98.68% (sensitivity 100%, specifity 94.4%) was obtained. The final model only needs 6 variables: Sch-P:

1. (1) Low HDL-cholesterol,

2. (2) Fasting glucose level,

3. (3) Family history of obesity,

4. (4) Triglyceride level,

5. (5) Family history of dyslipidemia, and

6. (6) Use of antidepressants; BD-P: (1), (2), (3),

7. (7) Use of lipid-lowering medication,

8. (8) Use of antipsychotics, and

9. (9) Use of mood stabilizers.

We developed a simple and easy to use predictive model to identify metabolic syndrome in patients with schizophrenic or bipolar disorders.

Pregabalin is indicated for the treatment of GAD in adults in Europe. The efficacy and safety of pregabalin for the treatment of adults and elderly patients with GAD has been demonstrated in 6 of 7 short-term clinical trials of 4 to 8 weeks.

To characterise the long-term efficacy and safety of pregabalin in subjects with GAD.

Subjects were randomised to double-blind treatment with either high-dose pregabalin (450-600 mg/d), low-dose pregabalin (150-300 mg/d), or lorazepam (3-4 mg/d) for 3 months. Treatment was extended with drug or blinded placebo for a further 3 months.

At 3 months, mean change from baseline Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A) for pregabalin high- and low-dose, and for lorazepam ranged from -16.0 to -17.4. Mean change from baseline Clinical Global Impression-Severity (CGI-S) scores ranged from -2.1 to -2.3 and mean CGI-Improvement (CGI-I) scores were 1.9 for each active treatment group. At 6 months, improvement was retained for all 3 active drug groups, even when switched to placebo. HAM-A and CGI-S change from baseline scores ranged from -14.9 to -19.0 and -2.0 to -2.5, respectively. Mean CGI-I scores ranged from 1.5 to 2.3. The most frequently reported adverse events were insomnia, fatigue, dizziness, headache, and somnolence.

Efficacy was observed at 3 months, with maintained improvement in anxiety symptoms over 6 months of treatment. These results are consistent with previously reported efficacy and safety trials of shorter duration with pregabalin and lorazepam in subjects with GAD.

This study was funded by Pfizer Inc.

Pregabalin is indicated for the treatment of generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) in adults in Europe. When pregabalin is discontinued, a 1-week (minimum) taper is recommended to prevent potential discontinuation symptoms.

To evaluate whether a 1-week pregabalin taper, after 3 or 6 months of treatment, is associated with the development of discontinuation symptoms (including rebound anxiety) in subjects with GAD.

Subjects were randomised to double-blind treatment with low- (150-300 mg/d) or high-dose pregabalin (450-600 mg/d) or lorazepam (3-4 mg/d) for 3 months. After 3 months ~25% of subjects in each group (per the original randomisation) underwent a double-blind, 1-week taper, with substitution of placebo. The remaining subjects continued on active treatment for another 3 months and underwent the 1-week taper at 6 months.

Discontinuation after 3 months was associated with low mean changes in Physician Withdrawal Checklist (PWC) scores (range: +1.4 to +2.3) and Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM A) scores (range: +0.9 to +2.3) for each pregabalin dose and lorazepam. Discontinuation after 6 months was associated with low mean changes in PWC scores (range: -1.0 to +3.0) and HAM A scores (range: -0.8 to +3.0) for all active drugs and placebo. Incidence of rebound anxiety during pregabalin taper was low and did not appear related to treatment dose or duration.

A 1-week taper following 3 or 6 months of pregabalin treatment was not associated with clinically meaningful discontinuation symptoms as evaluated by changes in the PWC and HAM A rating scales.

This study was funded by Pfizer Inc.

The thickness of the cortical mantle is a sensitive measure for identifying alterations in cortical structure. We aimed to explore whether first episode schizophrenia patients already show a significant cortical thinning and whether cortical thickness anomalies may significantly influence clinical and cognitive features.

We investigated regional changes in cortical thickness in a large and heterogeneous sample of schizophrenia spectrum patients (n=142) at their first break of the illness and healthy controls (n=83). Magnetic resonance imaging brain scans (1.5 T) were obtained and images were analyzed by using brains2. The contribution of sociodemographic, cognitive and clinical characterictics was investigated.

Patients showed a significant total cortical thinning (F=17.55, d=−0.62, p<0.001) and there was a diffuse pattern of reduced thickness (encompassing frontal, temporal and parietal cortices) (all p's<0.001, d's>0.53). No significant group×gender interactions were observed (all p's>0.15). There were no significant associations between the clinical and pre-morbid variables and cortical thickness measurements (all r's<0.12). A weak significant negative correlation between attention and total (r=−0.24, p=0.021) and parietal cortical thickness (r=−0.27, p=0.009) was found in patients (thicker cortex was associated with lower attention). Our data revealed a similar pattern of cortical thickness changes related to age in patients and controls.

Cortical thinning is independent of gender, age, age of onset and duration of the illness and does not seem to significantly influence clinical and functional symptomatology. These findings support a primary neurodevelopment disorder affecting the normal cerebral cortex development in schizophrenia.