Background. Individuals with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders (SSD) often experience significant impairment in educational, occupational, and psychosocial functioning. The clinical benefit of long-acting injectable antipsychotics (LAIs) in the management of patients with SSD is well established. SSD patients who are nonadherent to treatment have lower disease relapse and readmission rates when prescribed a LAI, compared to oral antipsychotics. Despite the reported advantages of LAIs, their prescription rates in clinical settings remain low. This pilot study aimed to determine the pattern of LAI prescription in psychiatric inpatients of a teaching community hospital in Brooklyn, New York. Methods. A retrospective review of the charts of patients discharged from the psychiatric units of the hospital from September 1, 2017, through September 30, 2017, was conducted. Frequencies and proportions for demographic and disease-related characteristics were calculated. Pertinent continuous variables were recoded into categorical variables. Chi-square-tests or Fisher’s exact tests were performed for categorical variables. The one-sample Shapiro-Wilk test (for sample size < 50) was used to check for the normality of distribution of continuous variables. Statistical significance was defined as p ≤ 0.05. Results. Forty-three (70%) of the patients discharged from the inpatient unit during the study period had SSD and were eligible for a LAI. Their ages ranged from 20 to 71 years (mean = 41 years), and more than two-thirds were male. Less than half of the eligible patients (n = 19; 44%) were prescribed a LAI, most of whom were male (n=16; 84%). An association between age group (patients aged 41 years or younger) and LAI use was observed (p < 0.05), while gender, employment status, living arrangement, length of hospital stay, recent hospitalization, and cooccurring substance use disorder were not. Conclusion. LAI prescription rate at the inpatient psychiatric unit of the hospital was marginally higher than those reported in most studies. Age appears to influence LAI use during the study period. Initiatives that increase LAI prescription rate for all eligible patients admitted to inpatient psychiatric unit should be encouraged.

Background: Globally prevalence of metabolic syndrome ranges from 10 to 84%, depending upon sex, age, race, and ethnicity, region and the definition used. There is limited literature in the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in Nepal. One nationwide survey study reported prevalence of metabolic syndrome is 15% and 16% according to ATP III and IDF criteria respectively. Aims and Objectives: The aims and objective of our study is to study the prevalence of metabolic syndrome and its components in tertiary care center. Material and Methods: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study. We used convenient method of sampling and data collection was done in between May 2019 to July 2019. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was done for association of metabolic syndrome with different variables. Results: The total of 362 participants was included in the study. Among them 54.4% were 53 years and above and 45.6% were below 53 years of age. Among all participants 25% were diabetic and 55% were hypertensive. Among all participants metabolic syndrome was found in 45.3%. All components of metabolic syndrome were found to be significantly associated with metabolic syndrome both in bivariate and multiple regression analysis. Conclusion: The metabolic syndrome is very prevalent in our population. These findings prompt the concerned authorities to formulate strategies to prevent the risk factors.

Background: In the last few decades, the incidence of stroke has doubled in low- and middle-income countries, whereas, during the same period stroke incidence has declined by 42% in high-income countries. The major type of stroke is ischemic, which occurs in about 87% of all stroke cases. According to the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study in 2010, out of 11 million ischemic strokes occurred, among them, 63% were from a low- and middle-income country. The present study aimed to investigate the clinical presentation and risk factors of stroke patients. Materials and methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study. Proforma was designed for socio-demographic factors and common risk factors for stroke. A Chi-square test was conducted for a bivariate relationship between clinical presentation and stroke type. Results: Altogether 50 participants were included in the study. Among them, 58% were age 65 and over,36% belonged to the age group 45 to 65 years and 6% belonged to the age group less than 45 years. Among the risk factors, the most common risk factor was hypertension (50%). Among the clinical presentation aphasia (46%) was the most common presentation, whereas, gait abnormality (6%) and eye gaze impairment (6%) were the least common presentation. Headache and speech abnormality was significantly associated with stroke type. Conclusion: Headache and speech abnormality are significantly associated with different types of stroke.

Background: The length of patients’ stay in the emergency room is a key measure of service delivery and a marker to measure the quality of care. Studies have shown that patients with psychiatric and substance use disorders have a prolonged length of stay in the emergency room compared to medical and surgical patients. Various factors have been found to contribute to this disparity. Method: This is a retrospective case by case review of four hundred and ninety-three consecutive patients who presented to a community psychiatric emergency. Results: Our results show a length of stay ranging between 1.21 – 33.48 hours. The mean length of stay of 8.72 hours and the median was 7.41 hours. Furthermore, the utilization of emergency medication and age above 44 have a significant influence on patients’ length of stay in the psychiatric emergency room (p<0.05). Conclusion: The length of stay in the psychiatric emergency room deserves more study in literature as it remains a metric for service delivery. Although, factors contributing to a prolonged length of stay may vary, in different settings and situations, understanding these factors will improve outcomes for patients in psychiatric emergency rooms.