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The limited clinical utility of a routine creatine kinase (CK) on admission to a psychiatric inpatient unit

Scott, Fraser AM; Butler, Matt; Rogers, Jonathan P; (2024) The limited clinical utility of a routine creatine kinase (CK) on admission to a psychiatric inpatient unit. BMC Psychiatry , 24 , Article 908. 10.1186/s12888-024-06386-8. Green open access

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Abstract

Background: Creatine kinase (CK) is an intracellular enzyme expressed most commonly in tissues such as skeletal muscle. CK can be used as an investigation to support the diagnosis of conditions such as neuroleptic malignant syndrome (NMS), a rare idiosyncratic drug reaction – classically to antipsychotic medications – which can be fatal. Routine screening of CK in psychiatric inpatients is a known practice, but its value is uncertain. We aimed to ascertain whether such screening resulted in new diagnoses of NMS or other conditions, and changes in clinical management. Methods: Using an electronic case register, we conducted a descriptive retrospective cohort study, identifying all psychiatric inpatient admissions in a South London mental health trust over a four-year period where a CK test was conducted within 48 h of admission. We extracted the demographic and clinical characteristics (e.g., diagnosis) of those who met inclusion criteria. Free-text review was performed on all those with a CK potentially suggestive of NMS (CK ≥ 4x upper limit of normal reference range (ULN)) to determine the impact of this abnormal result on subsequent management and diagnosis (including NMS if identified). Results: Of 14,236 inpatient episodes in the specified window, 2358 (16.6%) had a CK test within 48 h of admission. This was ≥ 4x ULN in 327 (13.8%) cases (free-text successfully reviewed in 318). There were no cases of NMS identified. An abnormal CK result led to a new alternative diagnosis, such as dehydration or catatonia, in only 14 patients (4.4% raised CK sample, 0.6% total CK sample). Impact on subsequent management appeared limited, with the most common adjustment being an increase in frequency of physical observations in 47 instances (14.8%). Conclusions: The clinical utility of untargeted screening using a serum CK for psychiatric inpatients appears limited, with poor specificity in detection of NMS and a minimal impact on subsequent clinical management.

Type: Article
Title: The limited clinical utility of a routine creatine kinase (CK) on admission to a psychiatric inpatient unit
Location: England
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1186/s12888-024-06386-8
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12888-024-06386-8
Language: English
Additional information: This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Keywords: Neuroleptic malignant syndrome, NMS, Creatine kinase, CK, Screening
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Brain Sciences > Division of Psychiatry > Institute of Mental Health
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10203704
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