The cardiovascular health of young people with severe mental illness: addressing an epidemic within an epidemic

Abstract

SummaryFor young people with emerging psychosis, early weight gain and its potential cardiac and metabolic consequences amplify worrying UK public health trends for young people in general. This paper will argue that if clinicians dismiss these changes as of secondary concern in psychiatric treatment for their young patients, they may be inadvertently condoning a first critical step on a path towards physical health inequalities. Greater recognition is needed for this patient population in their 20s and 30s, at ages not normally considered for active primary or secondary cardiovascular prevention, who are at high risk of dying prematurely. The early phase of psychosis presents an important treatment window for protecting cardiometabolic health.