Metabolic Syndrome Among Psychotic Patients: Comparative Study in Schizophrenia, Mood Disorder with Psychotic Features and Healthy Control

Abstract

Background and Aim

Metabolic syndrome affect around 20% of general population, authors have incriminated antipsychotics as serious risk factor that may provoke such derangement. The aim of our study is to assess metabolic syndrome in patients presenting psychotic features (delusions and hallucinations) whether schizophrenia or mood disorder and compare results in terms of drug naïf, on medication and healthy control.

Subjects and Methods

The study recruited 40 schizophrenic patients, half of them drug naïf and the other half on antipsychotics, 40 patients with mood disorder with psychotic features, half of them drug naïf and the other half on medication, 20 healthy control. Exclusion criteria were put in order to exclude patients having already endocrine or metabolic disorders that my interfere with results obtain to minimize confusion bias. Metabolic syndrome assessed by measuring parameters including weight, body mass index, waist circumference, triglyceride level, HDL, fasting glucose, fasting insulin and insulin resistance

Results

No difference was found when comparing drug naïf to those on medication in both schizophrenic and psychotic mood disorder arms, schizophrenic patients in general tend to show higher fasting glucose while patients with psychotic mood disorder tend to show higher fasting insulin level

Conclusion

This study suggest that presence of psychotic features themselves regardless being on medication or not carries a risk for insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome.