Metabolic Complications of Antipsychotic Treatment in Newly Diagnosed Psychotic and Mood Disorders: A Case-Control Study on Dyslipidemia and Hyperglycemia

Objective: This study aims to identify the relationship between statins and metabolic disorders when used as antipsychotics or combined with anti-psychotic medication in newly diagnosed Individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia and other psychiatric conditions characterized by disturbances in mood or psychosis.

Methods and Materials: We used electronic medical records and file records from Jordan University Hospital, King Abdullah University Hospital, and the National Center of Mental Health to conduct a matched case-control analysis. Patients between the ages of 20 and 55, suffering from schizophrenia, bipolar disorder (BD), and any form of affective psychosis, underwent continuous treatment with antipsychotics or statins, also known as psychotic therapy, for a duration of 4 to 6 months using the same medication.  We eliminated people with medical problems that are known to affect metabolic processes, including diabetes, endocrine disorders, hormone dysregulation, heart diseases, and renal diseases. We selected control participants for each instance, matching them based on variables including sex, age, psychiatric diagnosis, and symptoms of metabolic problems. We previously diagnosed both groups as psychotic patients treated with anti-psychotics or statins, and selected those with metabolic symptoms (dyslipidemia and hyperglycemia) as the case group. We employed conditional logistic regressions to calculate odds ratios and 95% confidence intervals (95% CIs) for each medication regarding metabolic problems.

Findings: We matched a total of 986 incident cases of metabolic syndrome to 1678 control subjects. The study examined the effects of medication on metabolic disorders. The risk of metabolic syndrome was significantly higher for people who took olanzapine (odds ratio: 4.42, 95% CI: 3.73–5.23) and risperidone (odds ratio: 5.17, 95% CI: 4.15–6.44). On the other hand, the risk of metabolic syndrome was low for people who took quetiapine. The odds ratio for aripiprazole is 0.081 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.04–0.16. The odds ratio for statins is 0.27 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.18–0.40. The odds ratio for the other variable is 0.02 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.01–0.04.

Conclusion: Since statins have been used as a psychotic medication for mood disorder symptoms, it was found that all mood disorder patients who received statins did not have any metabolic disorder symptoms.