Current medical research and opinion
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Serious mental illnesses (SMIs), including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder (MDD), are often treated with antipsychotic medications. Unfortunately, medication non-adherence is widespread and is associated with serious adverse outcomes. However, little real-world data are available describing adherence, compliance, or other medication-taking-related discussions between providers and patients. This study described these communications in ambulatory care. ⋯ Increasing the frequency of antipsychotic treatment-related adherence/compliance discussions may represent an opportunity to improve the quality of care for these vulnerable patients and reduce the overall economic burden associated with the treatment of SMI diagnosis.
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Low socioeconomic status has for long been considered an important modifiable risk factor for developing cardiovascular disease, plausibly by lower access to healthcare, lower therapeutic adhesion, and overlapping of other known risk factors. Nevertheless, whether family income and social isolation of poor communities seen in Brazil impact outcomes following ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) remain scarcely understood. ⋯ Low income was independently associated with a higher long-term mortality rate, lower prescription of guidelines-recommended therapy, and worst clinical presentation of myocardial infarction in STEMI patients.