Clinical Compass - New Treatment Options for Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders


	Subscribe to Clinical Compass™	Volume 3, Issue 21 - October 7, 2008

From the Clinical Knowledge Center

New Treatment Options for Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorders

Insomnia is a common condition, characterized by difficulty falling asleep, increased nighttime wakefulness, or inadequate sleep duration. Up to 75% of adults report symptoms of acute insomnia that occur a few nights per week or more, while approximately 10% to 15% have chronic insomnia, which is sleep difficulty lasting at least three nights per week for one month or more...

> Read entire article
> Back to top

Compass Questions™

> Back to top

Responses from Last Compass Questions™

In the 09.23.08 issue of Clinical Compass™, we asked two questions.

Question #1 was "What percentage of your patients are diagnosed with dementia?" and the neuroscienceCME learning community responded:
71% - 0-25%
16% - 26-50%
7% - 51-75%
6% - 76-100%

Question #2 was "How would you rate your familiarity with guidelines concerning the use of antipsychotics in patients with dementia?" and the neuroscienceCME learning community responded:
11% - Excellent
30% - Good
37% - Average
22% - Poor

Question #3 was "Do you believe that you would benefit from education about the treatment of psychosis, hallucinations, agitation, and aggression in patients with dementia?" and the neuroscienceCME learning community responded:
92% - Yes
2% - No
6% - Unsure

> Back to top

New neuroscienceCME Journal Club
with Live Q&A October 27, 2008!

Adherence and Early Predictors of Response: Tools for Individualizing Treatment in Schizophrenia

Bonus live Q&A date: October 27, 2008
Bonus live Q&A time: 12:00 - 12:45 PM ET (Harvey/Green)

Be advised that participation in the bonus Q&A session does not constitute additional credit or Live ACPE credit.

Featured Article
Velligan DI, Diamond PM, Mintz J, et al. The use of individually tailored environmental supports to improve medication adherence and outcomes in schizophrenia. Schizophr Bull 2008;34:483-493.

> View abstract

Summary - Cognitive impairments are a significant aspect of schizophrenia, and increasingly, targeted psychosocial treatments are becoming part of patient management. Cognitive adaptation training (CAT) is one such intervention, which focuses on providing individualized support of adaptive behaviors and goal-directed activity, including medication adherence. Medication adherence is low in this patient population, and nonadherence is a significant contributor to relapse. This study examined the efficacy of three types of interventions, full CAT, Pharm-CAT (focused only on medication adherence), and treatment as usual, in 95 outpatients randomly assigned to treatment condition. During 9 months of treatment and 6 months of follow-up, both CAT and Pharm-CAT were better than treatment as usual in terms of improving both medication adherence based on unannounced in-home pill counts and time to relapse. The results of this study suggest that individualized cognitive interventions can be effective strategies for improving medication adherence and outcome in patients with schizophrenia.

Activity Goal
To provide mental healthcare practitioners with the most recent data and clinical implications related to optimizing maintenance therapy in schizophrenia.

Learning Objectives
At the end of this CE activity, participants should be able to:

Discuss the implications of differential efficacy and tolerability of antipsychotics on medication adherence.
Identify targeted behavioral approaches to improving treatment adherence in patients with schizophrenia.
Describe early predictors of response to antipsychotic medication in patients with schizophrenia.

> View activity details
> Register now
> Back to top