Metabolic Syndrome with Different Antipsychotics: A Multicentre Cross-Sectional Study

High prevalence of Metabolic Syndrome (MS) and related metabolic disturbances in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar affective disorder have been in main focus of interest in recent years since the introduction of second-generation antipsychotics. This study aims to examine these questions: 1) Is there a relation between antipsychotic treatment and MS prevalence? 2) Which antipsychotic users have higher MS prevalence? 3) Do patients on antipsychotic polytherapy have higher rates of MS than patients on antipsychotic monotherapy? 4) Which metabolic parameters are considerably disturbed on which antipsychotic users? Methods: 242 patients with schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder and bipolar disorder without any other psychiatric comorbidity according to DSM-IV and using the same antipsychotic(s) and/or mood stabilizers at least for the last 6 months were included in the final assessment. Results: The sample was divided into 7 drug groups. The MS prevalence was highest in the combined antipsychotic (AA) group (48.1%) according to ATP III criteria. According to IDF criteria clozapine (C) group had the highest MS prevalence (74%). Conclusions: When metabolic parameters were evaluated overall, metabolic risk with antipsychotics was found to be highest in the clozapine group, followed by the combined AP group. Olanzapine and risperidone have intermediate risk while zuclopentixole has the lowest. Psychopharmacology Bulletin. 2010;43(4):22–36.