Metabolic syndrome among schizophrenia patients: study from a rural community of south India

Though metabolic syndrome (MS) is a major concern in schizophrenia, there is no data among rural community dwelling patients in India. This study describes prevalence and correlates of MS in a cohort of schizophrenia patients from a rural community of south India. 171 patients with schizophrenia were screened for the presence of MS using the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) criteria. 94.8% were receiving atypical antipsychotics for a mean (SD) duration of 13.04 (9.51) months. Fifty-four of the 171 (31.6%) patients screened met criterion for central obesity. Of these, laboratory results (fasting blood sugar, triglycerides and HDL cholesterol) were available for 47 patients. The rest 7 were deemed to have met the criteria for MS in order to avoid under-estimation of the syndrome. Only 22 (12.86%) patients met the criteria for MS thus defined. Females were significantly likely to have both central obesity and MS than males. No other predictors of metabolic adverse effects could be identified. Biological and the prevailing socio-cultural factors may contribute to such considerably low prevalence of metabolic abnormalities. Lack of data from a control group forms the most important limitation of this study.