Diabetes and obesity in an inpatient forensic mental health service
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Establishing the prevalence and course of diabetes and obesity in an inpatient forensic mental health setting
IRAS ID
263515
Contact name
Nicholas Stokes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
West London NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Individuals with Severe Mental Illness (SMI) are at increased risk of a number of physical health conditions, including type 2 diabetes and obesity. Inpatient mental health environments can be a challenge for these illnesses as there are often restricted opportunities for physical activity or exercise and available food choices may often have a high calorie and sugar content. Inpatients in secure forensic mental health hospitals typically have long admissions (often of a number of years) so are in these environments for extended periods of time.
Because of these difficulties, it is important for inpatient forensic services to find out the rates of diabetes and obesity within their own populations and to study how these change over time.
The first aim of the study is to find out the rates of obesity and diabetes for inpatients in a large forensic mental health unit. The second aim of the study is to find out how problems with obesity and diabetes change over time whilst in the unit, by examining data over the course of two years from the point of a patient’s admission. The study will use data which is routinely collected in the course of clinical practice and it will be anonymised.
REC name
London - Surrey Borders Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/0560
Date of REC Opinion
14 Apr 2020
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion