Research on the incidence of metabolic syndrom in patients with schizoaffective disorder

Life expectancy of the individuals having psychiatric disorders is estimated to decrease by 10-15 years compared to general population, while this duration is reported to be 20% shorter in schizophrenia compared to general society. The studies claiming that etiology of schizoaffective disorder is similar to the etiologies of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and similarity of the treatment agents indicates increased incidence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and cardiovascular disease in these patients. Objective of this study was to investigate the incidence of metabolic syndrome in schizoaffective population alone without considering schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and its correlation with the medications used. A total of 80 patients diagnosed with schizoaffective bipolar type and depressive type according to DSM-IV was included in this study. Then 3 patients were excluded since they were not using drugs. Sociodemographic and clinic information forms were applied on the patients. Venous blood samples were collected from the patient and control groups. Biochemical parameters of the patients including fasting blood glucose, and levels of LDL, HDL, total cholesterol and triglycerides were measured. Arterial blood pressure, height, body weight and waist circumference were measured too. Assessments in terms of metabolic syndrome were separately calculated according to the NCEP-ATP III (National Cholesterol Education Program - Adult Treatment Protocol), NCEP-ATP IIIA (National Cholesterol Education Program - Adapted Adult Treatment Protocol) and IDF (International Diabetes Federation) diagnostic criteria. In this study included 77 schizoaffective disorder patients, mean age was found as 36 years and duration of disease as 12.6 years. MetS incidence was found as 33.8% according to the diagnostic criteria of NCEP-ATP III, 36.4% according to NCEP-ATP III A and 44.2% according to diagnostic criteria of IDF. When we divided the patients into 3 groups as receiving typical, atypical and typical & atypical antipsychotics; no significant difference was found between the groups in terms of MetS incidence according to NCEP-ATP III, but a statistically significant positive correlation was observed between to use of additional antidepressant treatment and MetS incidence. Many-to-few ranking of the antipsychotics used in terms of the risk for MetS was found as clozapine, quetiapine=risperidone, olanzapine and aripiprazole. Metabolic syndrome was not observed in patients who was using flupenthixol and ziprasidone according to all of the three diagnostic criteria. Comparing to the data obtained from general population screening, our results indicate the increased risk for metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease in schizoaffective disorder. Further systematic studies are needed to be conducted on the schizoaffective disorder population without being a part of schizophrenia or mood disorders.