Antipsychotic drugs could increase diabetes risk

Wed, 23 Nov 2011
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts in the United States have found that people who are taking second-generation antipsychotic drugs are at a four times greater risk of developing diabetes than those who do not take any psychotropic medications.

Although the study, which was published in Pediatrics, did not prove conclusive due to the small amount of diabetes cases involved, it does raise issues about the use of these drug treatments. The new types of antipsychotic drugs are known to bring about both metabolic problems and weight gain for children and adults, as well as diabetes and insulin resistance in adults.

The research involved monitoring the data on 57 diabetes cases from a group of over 9,000 children between the ages of 5 and 18 who began to take second-generation antipsychotic medication between 2001 and 2008. Their health was assessed going forward, finding that the ratio for diabetes with second-generation antipsychotic use was 4.24-fold as compared to that of children not on psychotropics.

However, it was admitted that the diabetes cases were not split into type 1 or type 2 diagnoses, although it would be expected that the effects of antipsychotic drug would be on the incidence of type 2 diabetes. Also, it was observed that looking at children taking antidepressants could improve the analysis, as would be more similar in terms of healthcare with the potential diagnosis of diabetes.

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