Vol. 8, Issue 4 (2019)

Back ground: Metabolic syndrome refers to the co-occurrence of several known cardiovascular risk factors, including insulin resistance, obesity, atherogenic dyslipidemia and hypertension. This review includes the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients receiving atypical antipsychotics by checking the parameters like abdominal girth, body mass index (BMI), blood sugar levels and cholesterol levels.

Aim: To study the prescription patterns and prevalence of metabolic syndrome with anti-psychotic therapy.

Objective: To assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome associated with the use of anti-psychotic drugs and the duration of the therapy, and creates awareness among patients and clinicians.

Method: All patients who were under antipsychotic therapy for more than six months were included in the study. Patient data was collected in a well-designed patient profile form. This study was conducted for a period of six months.

Results: The overall prevalence of metabolic syndrome was 43.11%. The prevalence was higher in females (25.73%) than males (17.26%). Among the diagnostic subgroups, the prevalence was highest among patients with schizophrenia (22.5%), while it was lesser in the patients with bipolar disorders (17%) and psychotic disorders (3.58%). Prevalence of metabolic syndrome was significantly higher (39.24%) among patients taking second-generation antipsychotics, followed by those on the combination of first generation and second-generation antipsychotics (28.01%).

Conclusion: Our study shows that prevalence of metabolic syndrome is very high in patients with schizophrenia and among patients receiving second-generation anti-psychotics. We also identified the important risk factors for metabolic syndrome in these patients. Screening and monitoring of metabolic syndrome is strongly recommended for these patients. To further assess the pattern of onset and risk for metabolic complications, studies are needed to evaluate second-generation anti-psychotics treatment in larger sample size.