Relationship between blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier integrity, cardiometabolic, and inflammatory factors in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders.

The blood-cerebrospinal fluid barrier (BCB) is impaired in a substantial proportion of individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD). Even though disruption of the BCB is associated with higher symptom severity, factors linked to BCB disruption in SSDs have been minimally investigated. To address this gap, 57 inpatients with SSD underwent cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), blood analyses, and comprehensive clinical assessments.

Efficacy and safety of semaglutide versus placebo for people with schizophrenia on clozapine with obesity (COaST): a phase 2, multi-centre, participant and investigator- blinded, randomised controlled trial in Australia.

Background: People with schizophrenia have a 16-20-year reduction in life expectancy, primarily due to cardiometabolic disease. Clozapine, the most efficacious antipsychotic for treatment-resistant schizophrenia, is associated with weight gain and metabolic dysfunction. Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, including semaglutide, contribute to substantial weight loss in the general population, but their effect and safety profile in people with schizophrenia remain unknown.

INTEGRATE: international guidelines for the algorithmic treatment of schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a mental illness involving multiple symptom domains and is often associated with substantial physical health comorbidities. Guidelines exist, but these tend to be country-specific and are often missing a concise yet comprehensive algorithmic approach. From May 1, 2023, to Jan 1, 2025, International Guidelines for Algorithmic Treatment (INTEGRATE) authors from all UN regions collaborated to develop a consensus guideline focused on the pharmacological treatment of schizophrenia.

Investigation of choroid plexus variability in schizophrenia-spectrum disorders-insights from a multimodal study.

Previous studies have suggested that choroid plexus (ChP) enlargement occurs in individuals with schizophrenia-spectrum disorders (SSD) and is associated with peripheral inflammation. However, it is unclear whether such an enlargement delineates a biologically defined subgroup of SSD. Moreover, it remains elusive how ChP is linked to brain regions associated with peripheral inflammation in SSD.

Prevalence of multimorbidity in people with and without severe mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: People with severe mental illness, such as schizophrenia-spectrum disorder and bipolar disorder, face poorer health outcomes from multiple chronic illnesses. Physical multimorbidity, the coexistence of two or more chronic physical conditions, and psychiatric multimorbidity, the coexistence of three or more psychiatric disorders, are both emerging concepts useful in conceptualising disease burden. However, the prevalence of physical and psychiatric multimorbidity in this cohort is unknown.

Inflammatory cerebrospinal fluid markers in schizophrenia spectrum disorders: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 69 studies with 5710 participants.

Background: There is increasing evidence of immune dysregulation and neuroinflammation occurring in schizophrenia. The aim of this study is to combine studies on routine CSF parameters, as well as cytokines and inflammatory proteins, in individuals with schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Methods: CSF parameters were summated and inverse variance meta-analyses using a random effects model were performed comparing mean difference or odds ratios.

Alteration patterns of peripheral concentrations of cytokines and associated inflammatory proteins in acute and chronic stages of schizophrenia: a systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Background: Immune system dysfunction is considered to play an aetiological role in schizophrenia spectrum disorders, with substantial alterations in the concentrations of specific peripheral inflammatory proteins, such as cytokines. However, there are inconsistencies in the literature over which inflammatory proteins are altered throughout the course of illness. Through conducting a systematic review and network meta-analysis, this study aimed to investigate the patterns of alteration that peripheral inflammatory proteins undergo in both acute and chronic stages of schizophrenia spectrum disorders, relative to a healthy control population.