People with severe enduring mental illness (SMI) are at least twice as likely to die from cardiovascular disease (CVD) than the general population, with 60% of excess mortality rate attributable to physical illness.

We report implementation in primary care of screening and intervention for cardiometabolic risk factors in SMI in Cheshire, UK. Data search was performed through the EMIS software provider.

453 patients (55.8% male 44.2% female) on the SMI Register in Cheshire, UK were screened for dysglycaemia (screening rate 57.3 %) and dyslipidaemia (screening rate 36.2%). There were no differences in BMI by gender, but a greater proportion of women (25% vs 20%) were obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m2). Fasting glucose was in the impaired fasting glycaemia range (6.1-6.9mM) in 6.5% of those screened and at or above the threshold for type 2 diabetes (7.0mM) in 17.3% of the group. Fasting serum cholesterol was high at >5mmol/L in 62.8% of those screened for whom the mean cholesterol was 6.2±0.8 mmol/L). Despite high rates of dysglycaemia and dyslipidaemia, systolic blood pressure was greater than 140mmHg in only 13% of those examined. 61% were active smokers.

Multivariate linear regression analyses revealed a direct relation between fasting glucose levels and BMI (beta = 0.22, p< 0.001) independent of age, gender, systolic blood pressure and fasting cholesterol and triglycerides.

There is scope for cardiometabolic risk reduction in patients with severe mental illness. Measures to encourage weight reduction and smoking cessation would be vital in risk reduction strategies.