Differences of Glucose and Lipid Metabolism among the Type of Antipsychotic Drugs in Schizophrenia Patients with Long-Term Use of Antipsychotic Drugs

Moon, Eun Soo; Byun, Won Tan; Chung, Young In

Abstract

OBJECTIVE
The development of metabolic disorders including diabetes mellitus and hyperlipidemia has been reported among schizophrenia patients treated with atypical antipsychotic drugs. The role of antipsychotic drugs in the development of this condition has not been proven yet. This study was conducted to investigate whether antipsychotic drugs that often induce weight gain influence glucose and lipid metabolism including insulin resistance and serum leptin level.
METHODS
The study population consisted of 63 patients (all meeting DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia), who were divided into 3 treatment groups: haloperidol (N=21), risperidone (N=21), and olanzapine (N=21) monotherapy, and 31 healthy control subjects. Fasting blood samples for glucose, insulin, leptin and lipids were analysed. In addition, insulin resistance (IR) was calculated through the homeostatic model assessment (HOMA) and body mass index (BMI) was also calculated.
RESULTS
In patients receiving olanzapine, significant increases in BMI (p<0.01) and lipid profiles including LDL-cholesterol (p<0.05), triglyceride (p<0.01) and leptin levels (p<0.001) were found in comparison with the normal control group. A significantly higher degree of IR, as measured with the HOMA index, was found in patients receiving olanzapine than in patients receiving haloperidol (p<0.01) and risperidone (p<0.05), and in the normal control group (p<0.01). After removal of the impacts of BMI on the degree of HOMA-IR and serum leptin levels, the degree of HOMA-IR (p<0.05) and serum leptin levels (p<0.001) was also higher in patients receiving olanzapine than in the normal control group.
CONCLUSION
The results of this study suggest that olanzapine has more significant influence on metabolic complications than haloperidol and risperidone and the characteristics of antipsychotic drug per se may be involved in the development of metabolic complication as well as weight change.