Better outcomes, better value: integrating physical and mental health into clinical practice and commissioning
Tuesday 24 June 2014: 15 Hatfields, Chadwick Court, London
2. Case of Need
Mental health problems are the
largest single source of
disability in the United Kingdom
Patients with long-term
conditions are 2-3 x more likely
to experience mental health
problems
Prevalence of depression in
cardiovascular disease is 10 to
20% and this is approximately 3
x more common than in the
general population
Figure 1: Morbidity among people under age 65
Physical illness (e.g.
heart, lung, musculo-
skeletal, diabetes)
Mental illness
(mainly depression,
anxiety disorders,
and child disorders)
3. Case of Need
International research shows that
mental health co-morbidities are
associated with a 45-75%
increase in service costs per
patient.
The LSE report estimates that
extra physical healthcare caused
by mental illness now costs the
NHS at least £10bn a year.
4. Meet Jeremy*
• 55 year-old male
• Had an acute heart event 1 year ago
• He experienced another heart attack a month later
• He had heart surgery following this and was hospitalised
for one month
• He has been signed off sick for the past year
• He rarely leaves the house and feels low most days
• Jeremy has undiagnosed and untreated anxiety and
depression
*Name changed to protect confidentiality
5. Jeremy’s outlook
50 % more acute exacerbations per year
Twice as likely to have further cardiac events
His anxiety is one of the strongest predictors of in-hospital
complications
Treating depression and anxiety has the potential to improve;
His quality of life
Functioning
Physical health outcomes
6. Screening
During the last month have you been feeling down, depressed or
hopeless?
During the last month have you often been bothered by having
little interest or pleasure in doing things?
During the last month, have you often been bothered by:
Feelings of worthlessness?
Poor concentration?
Thoughts of death?
11. Collaborative Care
Consider referral to secondary
services for:
Patients with moderate or severe
depression & anxiety who have
not responded to initial
interventions
If the patient is assessed to be at
high risk of suicide
Self harm or self-neglect
Close collaboration is required
between physical health services and
specialist mental health services for
long-term follow-up
12. Jeremy
Assessed by primary care services
Seen by psychiatric team
Referred for psychology- CBT
Started on Sertraline- after discussion with cardiology team
Close liaison with primary care services
Jeremy started back at work after 8 months
Everyone was so busy treating my
heart no one stopped to think about
how I was feeling…
13. Key Leadership Actions
Early screening for depression
Patients undergoing heart surgery should receive screening for
anxiety and depression
Accurate auditing of the numbers of patients with cardiovascular
disease screened & treated for depression & anxiety
Ensure local expertise for delivery of psychiatric and
psychological interventions
14. References
The Centre for Economic Performance’s Mental Health Policy
G. How mental illness loses out in the NHS London: The
London School of Economics and Political Science, 2012.
http://www.bps.org.uk/news/how-mental-illness-loses-out-nhs.
Depression with a chronic physical health problem, NICE
Clinical Guideline (October 2009); The treatment and
management of depression in adults with chronic physical
health problems.
No Health without Mental Health: the supporting evidence.
www.rcpsych.ac.uk.
Notas del editor
Good morning- I am an ACF – what that effectively means I am a psychiatrist who also does research. David Osborn is my supervisor unfot couldn’t be here this morning. He is also a clinician who does research. Today I will be speaking about the significant link b/t CVD and mental health- and what we can do to improve and manage those who have both.
Among people under 65, nearly half of all ill health is mental.
In other words, nearly as much ill health is mental illness as all physical illnesses put together.
Moreover patients with long-term conditions are 2-3 x more likely to experience mental health problems. Nearly a third of all people with long-term physical conditions have a co-morbid mental health problem like depression or anxiety disorders.
And research has demonstrated that mental health illness often increases the scale of physical illness-so it can make existing physical illness worse.
If we think about depression specifically 10-20% of those with CVD have depression- 3 x times more than gen pop.
Anxiety problems are also common in cardiovascular disease and often co-exists with depression
This is imp not only because of QOF for the patient but also because of COST.
These mental health conditions raise the costs of physical health-care by at least 45% for a wide range of
conditions including cardio-vascular disease, diabetes and COPD at each level of severity,
. Altogether the extra physical healthcare caused by mental illness now costs the NHS at least £10 billion.
So what can be done? I wanted to demonstrate the effective mng and treatment of depression and anxiety in cvd by talking about Jeremy. Jeremy was a service user I met whilst work at the recovery centre – which use to be known as psychiatric day hospital. He had a heart attack a year before I met him
Outcomes from cardiovascular care are poorer for patients with co-morbid mental health problems
Cardiovascular patients with depression experience 50 % more acute exacerbations per year.
Patients with depression and coronary heart disease are twice as likely to have further cardiac events, compared with patients without depression.
Anxiety after heart attacks may lead to more frequent episodes of heart events, even after controlling for confounding factors including depression. Post-heart attack anxiety is one of the strongest predictors of in-hospital complications.
Treating depression and anxiety in people with a chronic physical health problem has the potential to improve their quality of life, improve functioning and physical health outcomes.
As recommended by NICE any patient who may have depression (especially those with a past history of depression or who suffer from a chronic physical illness associated with functional impairment) should be asked the following two questions :
During the last month have you been feeling down, depressed or hopeless?
During the last month have you often been bothered by having little interest or pleasure in doing things?
If patients with a chronic physical illness answer 'yes' to either question, the following three questions should be asked.
During the last month, have you often been bothered by:
Feelings of worthlessness?
Poor concentration?
Thoughts of death?
Conduct a comprehensive assessment that does not rely simply on a symptom count.
Take into account both the degree of functional impairment and/or disability associated with the possible depression and the duration of the episode.
Consider the role of the physical health problem and any prescribed medication in the depression.
Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9): this is a nine-item questionnaire which helps both to diagnose depression and to assess severity. It is based directly on the diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual - Fourth Edition (DSM-IV). It takes about three minutes to complete.
Hospital Anxiety and Depression (HAD) Scale: despite its name, this has been validated for use in primary care. It is designed to assess both anxiety and depression. It takes about 5 minutes to complete.
Conventional psychological and antidepressant treatments are effective at improving depression and anxiety in people with cardiovascular disease.
When people with physical symptoms receive psychological therapy, the average improvement in physical symptoms is so great that the resulting savings on NHS physical care outweigh the cost of the psychological therapy. So while doing the right thing on mental illness, the NHS costs itself nothing. This applies much less to most other NHS expenditures.
This is mainly because the costs of psychological therapy are low and recovery
rates are high. A half of all patients with anxiety conditions will recover, mostly permanently, after ten sessions of treatment on average. And a half of those with depression will recover, with a much diminished risk of relapse. Doctors normally measure the effectiveness of a treatment by the number of people who have to be treated in order to achieve one successful outcome. For depression and anxiety the Number Needed to Treat is under 3.
The stepped-care model provides a framework in which to organise the provision of services, and supports patients and practitioners in identifying and accessing the most effective interventions.
In stepped care the least intrusive, most effective intervention is provided first. If this is not beneficial the next step up should be offered.
Patients who have cardiovascular disease should be asked about how anxious or depressed they feel to reduce incidence of further cardiac events and improve quality of life.
Patients undergoing cardiac surgery should be pre- screened and offered follow-up screening for anxiety and depression to improve overall outcomes.
Effective appropriate interventions should be available and offered to those detected as having anxiety and depression in primary care and acute care settings.