Physical activity and negative symptoms as predictors of metabolic syndrome in patients with schizophrenia

Introduction: The main purpose of the study is to assess correlations between presence of metabolic dys-functions, negative symptoms of schizophrenia and physical activity. Material and methods: 46 adult patients with schizo-phrenia diagnosed using ICD-10 criteria were qualified for the research group; the group was composed of 24 men and 22 women. Three scales were used to evaluate mental state: PANSS (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale), BNSS (Brief Negative Syndrome Scale) and SNS (Self-evaluation of Negative Symptoms). Physical activity was assessed using accelerometry, measuring the following parameters: calories burnt per minute, calories burnt per day, percentage of sedentary activ-ity, percentage of light activity, percentage of moder-ate activity, percentage of vigorous activity, percentage of very vigorous activity. The components of metabolic syndrome were measured - lipid profile, fasting glu-cose, waist circumference and blood pressure. National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) metabolic syndrome criteria were applied. Results: There were no significant connections be-tween physical activity and metabolic syndrome. Significant differences in presence of single negative schizophrenia symptoms regarding metabolic syn-drome criteria were observed and significant correla-tions between physical activity and single schizophre-nia symptoms were noted. Conclusions: Considering the disagreements between previous papers, more multicentre research on a large group of patients is needed.