title: Metabolic syndrome in schizophrenia.
abstract: To review the data with respect to prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its correlates in schizophrenia. For this review, electronic search engines PUBMED, Sciencedirect, and Google Scholar were used. Available data suggests that most of the studies have been of cross-sectional design. Prevalence rates of MetS have varied from 11% to 69% in medicated patients, and 4-26% in drug naive patients in cross-sectional evaluations. Longitudinal studies have shown the prevalence rates to range from 0% to 14% at the baseline in drug naive patients, which increase to as high as 52.4% by 3 months of antipsychotic medication treatment. The prevalence rates of MetS in patients with schizophrenia are much higher than that seen in general population or healthy controls. Though there is no causal association with any demographic or clinical variables, the risk increases with increase in age. Among antipsychotics, there seems to be an association between MetS and atypical antipsychotics like clozapine and olanzapine. Therefore, the psychiatrists should be more vigilant regarding the presence of MetS in these high risk groups. Research on biological correlates of MetS in schizophrenia is still in its primitive stage, however, these is some evidence to suggest an association of MetS with adiponectin levels, hematological indices, methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) and Alpha-1A adrenergic receptor (ADRA1A) gene. These areas hold promise, and targeting these with appropriate interventions may help us to prevent the occurrence of MetS in patients with schizophrenia in future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: Nidhi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Malhotra
authors.forename: Sandeep
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grover
authors.forename: Subho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chakrabarti
authors.forename: Parmanand
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kulhara
keywords: Cardiovascular risk; metabolic syndrome; schizophrenia