Anti-psychotic medications may reduce the risk of diabetes among people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder.
By
Colin Allen, published on May 01, 2003 - last reviewed on October 10, 2007
Anti-psychotic medications may reduce the risk of diabetes among people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. Findings suggest that the second generation of anti-psychotics, available since 1991, helps weaken the link between such mental illnesses and physical disease. Unfortunately, the risk still remains higher among the mentally ill than in the general population.
Researchers from the University of Buffalo, New York, compared two populations of patients with bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. The first group comprised 569 randomly selected people suffering bipolar disorder or schizophrenia. These subjects had been admitted to a state psychiatric hospital in the 1940s, before the advent of anti-psychotic medicines. The second group, treated with such medication, was made up of patients admitted to a state psychiatric hospital between 1999 and 2002.
The untreated patients had a 21 percent rate of diabetes, while those who had taken medication had a 10 percent chance of the disease. In addition, hypertension dropped from 29 percent among the first group to 16 percent among the second. Study co-author Terry Bellnier, R.Ph., notes that, for good reason, much mental health treatment has been focused on the mind. Yet now, the bar should be raised, says Bellnier: psychiatric care should encompass physical wellness as well.
Tags:
1940s,
anti psychotics,
antipsychotic,
bipolar disorder,
buffalo new york,
co author,
diabetes,
good reason,
mental health treatment,
mental illnesses,
psychiatric care,
risk,
schizophrenia,
second generation,
second group,
university of buffalo
