Metabolic syndrome among psychiatric outpatients with mood and anxiety disorders

Few studies have simultaneously compared the impacts of pharmacotherapy and mental diagnoses on metabolic syndrome (MetS) among psychiatric outpatients with mood and anxiety disorders. This study aimed to investigate the impacts of pharmacotherapy and mental diagnoses on MetS and the prevalence of MetS among these patients.

Two-hundred and twenty-nine outpatients (men/women = 85/144) were enrolled from 1147 outpatients with mood and anxiety disorders by systematic sampling. Psychiatric disorders and MetS were diagnosed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR and the new International Diabetics Federation definition, respectively. The numbers of antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, and antidepressants being taken were recorded. Logistic regression was used to investigate the impacts of pharmacotherapy and psychiatric diagnoses on MetS.

Among 229 subjects, 51 (22.3%) fulfilled the criteria for MetS. The prevalence of MetS was highest in the bipolar I disorder (46.7%) patients, followed by bipolar II disorder (25.0%), major depressive disorder (22.0%), anxiety-only disorders (16.7%), and no mood and/or anxiety disorders (14.3%). The percentages of MetS among the five categories were correlated with those of the patients being treated with antipsychotics and mood stabilizers. Use of antipsychotics and/or mood stabilizers independently predicted a higher risk of MetS after controlling for demographic variables and psychiatric diagnoses. When adding body mass index (BMI) as an independent variable in the regression model, BMI became the most significant factor to predict MetS.

BMI was found to be an important factor related to MetS. Pharmacotherapy might be one of underlying causes of elevated BMI. The interactions among MetS, BMI, pharmacotherapy, and psychiatric diagnoses might need further research.