The frequency of metabolic syndrome in patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder

Objective: In this research the objective is to obtain the frequency of metabolic syndrome (MS) in a group of patients who has been referred to an outpatient psychiatry unit with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder. Methods: Among 95 patients who were referred to a psychiatry outpatient unit between October 4(th) 2006- June 1(st) 2007 and diagnosed with schizophrenia (n= 60) and schizoaffective disorder (n= 35), 34 patients who accepted to undergo the necessary biochemical tests and continue the follow-up appointments were enrolled to the study. Results: MS frequency was found to be 35.3% according to the ATP-III criteria. Patients diagnosed with MS had a higher mean of age and longer duration of disease and treatment compared to the patients that were not diagnosed with MS. Twenty-one of the patients (61.8%) were diagnosed with paranoid subtype, 8 (23.5%) were diagnosed with disorganized subtype, 2 (5.9%) were diagnosed with undifferentiated subtype of schizophrenia and 3 of the patients (8.8%) were diagnosed with schizoaffective disorder. The male patients had a higher rate of MS. MS was detected in the 26.7% of the patients receiving atypical antipsychotic medication while 33.3% of the patients taking dual medication ( atypical antipsychotic + depot antipsychotic medication) had metabolic syndrome. Discussion: The frequency of MS is close to similar researches. The high rates of atypical antipsychotic use are one of the interesting features. No statistically significant difference was found between the patients that use atypical antipsychotic medication and the patients that receive dual antipsychotic medication. In our study, no significant relationship was found between the atypical antipsychotic use and the diagnosis of MS. The male patients that were enrolled in the study had a higher rate of MS. This finding may be explained as the male patients enrolled in the study might have a higher risk for MS coincidentally. For the patients diagnosed with schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder, to obtain the risk factors for MS is clearly important. (Anatolian Journal of Psychiatry 2009; 10: 26-33)