Evidence-Based Laboratory Medicine for Cardiovascular Disease Management in Mental Healthcare: A Literature Review

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) comorbidity in mental health underpins the basis of referrals to cardiology specialists in mental healthcare, while blood flow issues constitute part of the pathophysiology. However, there is a dearth of data on evidence-based cardiovascular medicine in mental healthcare, such as clinical laboratory testing of whole blood viscosity (WBV). The primary objective of this literature review is to assess the level of evidence-based laboratory medicine (EBLM) practice for CVD management in mental healthcare, including aspects of demography, CVD complications, guidelines for management, and laboratory monitoring with WBV. This study followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews approach. Four types of evidence constituted the phenomena of interest, which included demography, epidemiology, CVD, guidelines, and pathology. Two databases, including Our World in Data and PubMed, were targeted for search, resulting in empirical and non-empirical data. The inclusion criteria for the literature were the indication of data on "CVD and mental health." The search was done in four separate searches to cater to each phenomenon of interest with associated keywords. Further, grey literature was also sought from other sources, including, but not limited to, Google Scholar. Anxiety and depression constitute about 89.36% of the burden of mental health. In terms of individual disease prevalence, anxiety and depression combined is 11.10%, followed by alcohol and other drugs at 3.6% of cases in Australia. Prevalence was more among young and mid adults (50% out of 76%), unlike the global levels (39% out of 69%). Guidelines were missing in the literature, with nurses and support management having little mention. Blood viscosity has been a well-established research topic, but not in mental healthcare. The review identifies gaps in knowledge and practice of EBLM for CVD in mental healthcare. From a mental health nursing perspective, the higher prevalence among younger adults in Australia is unexpected, which perhaps calls for case studies for early identification and intervention against potential CVD complications in young people. The significance for further studies lies in EBLM cardiovascular preventive clinical practice.