Inappropriate prescribing of strong painkillers following surgery is partly to blame for a growing opioid crisis in the UK, experts have warned. Recent media reports that Britain is in the midst of an opioid epidemic come in the wake of huge increases in opioid prescriptions and soaring addiction rates, as…
To mark World Bipolar Day (30 March 2019) we examine how genetic testing can improve the effectiveness of treatment for people with bipolar affective disorder (BPAD).
Matching a person’s genetic profile to a diagnosed medical condition has the potential to transform the treatment of mental health.
Not all drugs are effective for all people. A drug that works well for one person may not be effective for another or may produce unwanted side effects. In the case of schizophrenia, for example, almost a third of patients (around 30%) fail to respond to antipsychotics, putting them at…
Seventy per cent of children and young people with mental health issues don’t get the right interventions at an early enough age, according to The Children’s Society. Yet, genetic testing could help put an end to this and ensure that individuals receive the right treatment sooner.
Genetic differences mean that a drug can be safe and effective for one person but harmful for another. One person may experience side-effects while another does not, even though they may have been prescribed the same dose. This presents a problem to doctors who have to rely on a trial…
Research suggests that more than a third (38%) and possibly as many as half of patients with depression do not benefit from the first drug they are treated with.