It is difficult to say how common factitious disorders are. A review of psychiatric consultations in a tertiary care setting found about 1% of referrals received a diagnosis of factitious disorder. Using an entirely different approach, researchers examined specimens submitted by patients as kidney stones and found that 3.5% were obviously non-physiological.
But whatever the prevalence, the consequences can be serious. They include unnecessary diagnostic procedures or interventions and sometimes self-injury.
To find out more about this condition, please do listen to this BMJ Best Practice podcast interview with James Levenson, Professor of Psychiatry at Virginia Commonwealth University. And importantly James is author of our BMJ Best Practice topic on factitious disorders. Competing interests: None
For more on factitious disorders, visit BMJ Best Practice.
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Down's syndrome
Down's syndrome is the most common genetic cause of intellectual disability, occurring in 1 in about 800 births worldwide. Children and adults with Down's syndrome need high quality care from a wide range of different types of healthcare professionals.
To find out more about this condition, listen to this BMJ Best Practice podcast interview with Kishore Vellody, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Competing interests: None
For more on Down's Syndrome, visit BMJ Best Practice.
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Generalised seizures in adults
In 2016, the estimated number of people globally with active epilepsy was 45.9 million. For the US in 2015, this figure was around 3.4 million. So epilepsy is common and generalised seizures are a common type of epilepsy.
And the consequences can be serious - from medication side effects to status to sudden unexpected death.
To find out more about this problem and what we can do about it, listen to this BMJ Best Practice podcast interview with Daniel Winkel, Assistant Professor of Neurology at Emory University School of Medicine.
For more on generalised seizures, visit BMJ Best Practice.
Competing interests: DW receives consulting fees from NextSense, Inc.
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Measles, mumps and rubella vaccination
Measles, mumps and rubella are all serious illnesses. They are also all preventable.
Vaccination is safe and effective. But take up of the vaccine is not what it should be.
To find out more about this problem and what we can do about it, please do listen to this BMJ Best Practice podcast interview with Helen Bedford, Professor of Children's Health at the UCL Institute of Child Health.
For more on these infections, visit BMJ Best Practice.
Competing interests: None
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Insomnia
Insomnia is common and can be serious.
It is estimated that 10% to 30% of the population may have insomnia. Insomnia can cause accidents and poor productivity at work. Psychiatric disorders, particularly anxiety and depression, are common comorbidities.
To find out more about this problem and what we can do about it, please do listen to this BMJ Best Practice podcast interview with John Winkelman, Chief of the Sleep Disorders Clinical Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.
To find out more about insomnia, visit BMJ Best Practice.
Competing interests: JWW has received honoraria for consulting to Avadel, CVS, Eisai, and Merck, and research grants from Merck and the RLS Foundation.
The BMJ Best Practice podcast publishes interviews with clinical experts, aimed at healthcare professionals and students with an interest in keeping up to date with the latest scientific developments, evidence-based medicine and guidelines.
BMJ Best Practice is ranked one of the best clinical decision support tools for health professionals worldwide.* Structured around the clinical workflow and updated daily, BMJ Best Practice uses the latest evidence-based research, guidelines and expert opinion to offer step-by-step guidance on diagnosis, prognosis, treatment and prevention.
bestpractice.bmj.com
*Kwag KH, González-Lorenzo M, Banzi R, Bonovas S, Moja L. Providing Doctors With High-Quality Information: An Updated Evaluation of Web-Based Point-of-Care Information Summaries
The purpose of this podcast is to educate and to inform. The content of this podcast does not constitute medical advice and it is not intended to function as a substitute for a healthcare practitioner’s judgement...
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