WHO Releases Guidelines for Physical Condition Management in Severe Mental Illness

The World Health Organization has released new guidelines on managing the physical health of patients with severe mental disorders (SMD).

The objective of the guidelines is to “improve the management of physical health conditions in adults with SMD and support the reduction of individual health behaviors constituting risk factors for these illnesses, with the aim of decreasing morbidity and premature mortality amongst people with SMD.”

They build upon prior WHO reports, including Addressing comorbidity between mental disorders and major noncommunicable diseases, published by the WHO Regional Office for Europe in support of the WHO European Mental Health Action Plan 2013-2020 and the WHO European Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases 2016-2025.

The guidelines feature recommendations dealing with tobacco cessation, weight management, substance use disorder, cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular risk, diabetes mellitus, HIV/AIDS, and other infectious diseases (tuberculosis, Hepatitis B/C).

The full guidelines are available on WHO’s website.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

WHO. Management of physical health conditions in adults with severe mental disorders. http://apps.who.int/iris/bitstream/handle/10665/275718/9789241550383-eng.pdf?ua=1. Published November 7, 2018. Accessed November 9, 2018.