Diabetes bad for those with severe mental illness

Diabetes is deadlier for people with severe mental illness than it is for mentally stable people, says a new research. A study found that people with severe mental illness are more than twice as likely to have Type 2 diabetes, with even higher risks among patients who are African American or Hispanic. Among more than 15,000 patients with severe mental illness, 28.1 per cent had Type 2 diabetes, the researchers said. In contrast, 12.2 per cent of the general population is estimated to have the disease. Among racial minorities with severe mental illness, the incidences were 36.9 per cent for Hispanics, 36.3 per cent for African Americans and 30.7 per cent for Asians versus 25.1 per cent for whites. The study followed a previous research that linked severe mental illness to low levels of testing for diabetes, low rates of HIV testing - despite a significantly higher likelihood of being HIV positive - and, among women, low rates of screening for cervical cancer. Antipsychotic medications prescribed for conditions like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may cause weight gain and impact cholesterol levels and insulin resistance, adds an expert. Additionally, people with severe mental illness have more tenuous life circumstances, including food insecurity, low income, and unstable housing situations, which all increase their risk of diabetes. Stressors such as structural racism compound these problems in minorities. Prediabetes, in which blood sugar levels are elevated, was also found to be high among people with the severe mental illness. The condition was more common among those who were minorities and tended to emerge as young as age 20, the researchers noted. The study findings appear in the journal Diabetes Care.

High BP ups heart-failure risk after childbirth  

A recent study says diagnosis of hypertension during pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of maternal cardiovascular disease. Those with a previous hypertensive disorder are twice at risk. This makes it imperative to monitor blood pressure after giving birth, through the postpartum period. Heart failure can occur up to five months after giving birth. Some symptoms of this condition include tiredness, shortness of breath, swollen ankles, swollen neck veins and feeling of missed heartbeats or palpitations. Hypertension during pregnancy is a major risk factor for both the mother and the baby. High blood pressure can hamper blood flow throughout the body, including to the placenta and uterus. This can further affect foetal growth and cause premature detachment of the placenta from the uterus. If not closely monitored before, during, and after childbirth, high blood pressure may even become a major cause of heart problems including heart failure in such women, says an expert.  Some other fatal repercussions of high blood pressure include pre-term birth, seizures, or even death of the mother and the baby. Women in the relatively young reproductive age, particularly those with an additional condition such as hypertension are at an increased risk of morbidity and death from heart failure. It is important for them to monitor their blood pressure at regular intervals post childbirth. — Agencies