This story was first published in digitalhealth.net
UEL study shows schizophrenia hotspots
Analysis conducted by the University of East London, and reported by the BBC, has revealed the locations of ‘hotspots’ of schizophrenia and other psychotic illnesses in England, using data showing the amount of medication prescribed by GPs.
The top five locations for schizophrenia prescriptions included North Kesteven, 39 per 1,000 people; Coventry, 35 per 1,000 people; Rochdale, 34 per 1,000 people; Cambridge, 34 per 1,000 people; and Hastings, 33 per 1,000 people.
The lowest prescribing for the condition was found in: East Dorset, nine per 1,000 people; South Gloucestershire, 10 per 1,000 people; Tewkesbury, 10 per 1,000 people; York, 10 per 1,000 people; and Epsom and Ewell, 11 per 1,000 people.
They maps were developed using anonymous prescription records that are collected from doctors' surgeries in England. The analysis only recorded prescriptions given out by GPs, and not the number of patients treated, so hospital treatment is missed in the analysis.
Data between October 2015 and September 2016 showed the average number of schizophrenia prescriptions across England was 19 for every 1,000 people.
Prof Allan Brimicombe, one of the researchers from UEL, said: "The pattern is not uniformly spread across the country. The top one is in the Lincolnshire countryside and there are others in the countryside."
"This raises questions that we can't yet answer, but it helps us raise the question.
"In each of these areas of high prescriptions there may be a different set of drivers that are leading to this situation.
"Looking into them starts to inform policy into ameliorating it."
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