1.
Effects of nutritional education on weight change and metabolic abnormalities among patients with schizophrenia in Japan: A randomized controlled trial.
Sugawara, N, Sagae, T, Yasui-Furukori, N, Yamazaki, M, Shimoda, K, Mori, T, Sugai, T, Matsuda, H, Suzuki, Y, Ozeki, Y, et al
Journal of psychiatric research. 2018;:77-83
Abstract
OBJECTIVE Patients with schizophrenia have a higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) than the general population. Minimizing weight gain and metabolic abnormalities in a population with an already high prevalence of obesity is of clinical and social importance. This randomized controlled trial investigated the effect of monthly nutritional education on weight change and metabolic abnormalities among patients with schizophrenia in Japan. METHODS From July 2014 to December 2014, we recruited 265 obese patients who had a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Participants were randomly assigned to a standard care (A), doctor's weight loss advice (B), or an individual nutritional education group (C) for 12 months. The prevalence of MetS and body weight were measured at baseline and 12 months. RESULTS After the 12-month treatment, 189 patients were evaluated, and the prevalence of MetS based on the ATP III-A definition in groups A, B, and C was 68.9%, 67.2%, and 47.5%, respectively. Group C showed increased weight loss (3.2 ± 4.5 kg) over the 12-month study period, and the change in weight differed significantly from that of group A; additionally, 26.2% of the participants in group C lost 7% or more of their initial weight, compared with 8.2% of those in group A. CONCLUSION Individual nutrition education provided by a dietitian was highly successful in reducing obesity in patients with schizophrenia and could be the first choice to address both weight gain and metabolic abnormalities induced by antipsychotic medications.
2.
Metabolic syndrome and atypical antipsychotics: Possibility of prediction and control.
Franch Pato, CM, Molina Rodríguez, V, Franch Valverde, JI
Revista de psiquiatria y salud mental. 2017;(1):38-44
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Schizophrenia and other psychotic disorders are associated with high morbidity and mortality, due to inherent health factors, genetic factors, and factors related to psychopharmacological treatment. Antipsychotics, like other drugs, have side-effects that can substantially affect the physical health of patients, with substantive differences in the side-effect profile and in the patients in which these side-effects occur. To understand and identify these risk groups could help to prevent the occurrence of the undesired effects. MATERIAL AND METHOD A prospective study, with 24 months follow-up, was conducted in order to analyse the physical health of severe mental patients under maintenance treatment with atypical antipsychotics, as well as to determine any predictive parameters at anthropometric and/or analytical level for good/bad outcome of metabolic syndrome in these patients. RESULTS There were no significant changes in the physical and biochemical parameters individually analysed throughout the different visits. The baseline abdominal circumference (lambda Wilks P=.013) and baseline HDL-cholesterol levels (lambda Wilks P=.000) were the parameters that seem to be more relevant above the rest of the metabolic syndrome constituents diagnosis criteria as predictors in the long-term. CONCLUSIONS In the search for predictive factors of metabolic syndrome, HDL-cholesterol and abdominal circumference at the time of inclusion were selected, as such that the worst the baseline results were, the higher probability of long-term improvement.
3.
Use of Metformin for Cardiometabolic Risks in Psychiatric Practice: Need-to-Know Safety Issues.
Andrade, C
The Journal of clinical psychiatry. 2016;(11):e1491-e1494
Abstract
Metformin, a biguanide drug, is emerging as an important treatment option for the prevention or treatment of weight gain, type 2 diabetes mellitus, and the metabolic syndrome in psychiatric patients, especially those who require or receive antipsychotic drugs. Metformin treatment is commonly associated with gastrointestinal adverse effects; the risk of these is reduced by gradual dose uptitration, administration of the drug with meals, and use of a time-release formulation. Lactic acidosis, a potentially fatal complication of biguanide therapy, is very rare with metformin; the risk can be reduced by avoidance of its prescription in patients with impaired renal function, impaired liver function, cardiac failure, and certain other conditions. Long-term metformin use is associated with decreased vitamin B₁₂ levels, and even with biochemical B₁₂ deficiency; this complication can detected early by annual assessments of serum B₁₂ levels and prevented by annual intramuscular B₁₂ administration.
4.
The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism is associated with increased body mass index and insulin resistance measures in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.
Bonaccorso, S, Sodhi, M, Li, J, Bobo, WV, Chen, Y, Tumuklu, M, Theleritis, C, Jayathilake, K, Meltzer, HY
Bipolar disorders. 2015;(5):528-35
Abstract
OBJECTIVES We tested the hypothesis that a common functional variant in brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), Val66Met, which has been shown to be associated with increased body mass index (BMI) in schizophrenia (SCZ) and schizoaffective disorder (SAD), is also associated with antipsychotic-induced weight gain in bipolar disorder (BPD). Association of Val66Met with other metabolic measures, including high- and low-density cholesterol, triglycerides, total cholesterol, fasting blood glucose, and hemoglobin A1c, was also tested. METHODS This was a 12-month, prospective, randomized trial of two atypical antipsychotic drugs (APDs) with moderate (risperidone) or high (olanzapine) risk to cause weight gain. Subjects were diagnosed as having BPD (n = 90) and SCZ or SAD (n = 76). RESULTS BMI was significantly greater in all diagnoses for Met66 allele carriers at six months (p = 0.01). Met66 carriers with BPD showed a greater increase in the triglycerides/high-density (HDL) cholesterol ratio (p = 0.01), a key marker for metabolic syndrome related to insulin resistance, and log-triglycerides (p = 0.04), after three or six months of treatment. Met66 carriers had the greatest increase in log-triglycerides (p = 0.03) and triglycerides/HDL cholesterol ratio after three months of treatment with risperidone (p = 0.003), and the highest BMI at six months (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS The positive association of BNDF Val66Met with high BMI values replicates previous findings in patients with SCZ and indicates the BDNF Val66Met genotype as a potential risk factor for obesity and insulin resistance measures in patients with BPD receiving antipsychotics as well.