Over the past few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of co-supervising the steps of a master’s thesis project developed by a student from our GA12 research group at IMIBIC, in collaboration with the University of Córdoba (UCO). 

His research focused on a topic that remains underexplored: the assessment of lung function in people with severe mental illness. This population is often overlooked in clinical research, even though physical and mental health are deeply interconnected. 

It has been a rigorous and meaningful research journey, and I’m proud to have been part of it as co-supervisor.

Below is the abstract of the work, shared with the author’s permission:

Objective: To determine the prevalence of different spirometric patterns in individuals with SMI and to analyze their association with clinical and anthropometric risk factors. 

Materials and methods: A cross sectional observational study was conducted in 240 individuals withs SMI recruited from community mental health units and psychiatric inpatient settings in Andalusia. Eligible participants were aged 25 to 70 years, had a clinical diagnosis of schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, and were in a stable clinical condition. Individuals with known respiratory diseases or conditions preventing spirometry were excluded. Clinical and anthropometric variables were analyzed in relation to spirometric patterns using multinomial logistic regression models. 

Results: Abnormal spirometric patterns were identified in 40% of patients with SMI. The most prevalent pattern was obstructive (15.4%), followed by PRISm + RSP (15%), isolated PRISm (7.9%), and isolated RSP (1.7%). The obstructive pattern was significantly associated with greater abdominal circumference (OR: 1.031; p=0.028) and current smoking status (non-smoker: OR: 0.117; p=0.001). The PRISm + RSP pattern was also significantly associated with abdominal circumference (OR:1.068; p=0.001). No significant associations were observed for isolated PRISm or RSP patterns. 

Conclusions: Functional respiratory impairments are common in individuals with SMI, eve at relatively young ages. Obstructive and PRISm + RSP patterns were the most prevalent and were associated with modifiable risk factors such as smoking and abdominal obsesity. These finding highlight the value of spirometry as a screening tool in this vulnerable population, with potential implications for the prevention and management of physical comorbidities. 

Keywords: SMI; pulmonary function; spirometry; PRISm; obstructive pattern; comorbidity; smoking; abdominal obesity.