The importance of the physical health needs of people with psychotic disorders

Abstract

There is increased appreciation and associated concern regarding the importance of physical wellbeing in peo-ple living with psychotic disorders. In this population, the mortality and morbidity gaps persist with standardised mortality ratios of 2.6 or higher, and a reduction in life expectancy of 20% compared to the rest of the community. In the face of urgent calls to address this disparity (Suetani et al., 2016), it is timely that the latest edition of the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatry (RANZCP) Clinical Practice Guidelines (CPGs) for schizophrenia and related disorders (Galletly et al., 2016) has devoted an entire section on management of physical health. The revised CPGs emphasise the importance of lifestyle interventions to target cardiometabolic risk factors, as well as linking regular physical health monitoring with appropriate and effective treatments.