Low Bone Mass Secondary to Antipsychotic Medications

Antipsychotic medications are known to cause low bone mass. The objective of this study was to assess the prevalence of osteopenia and osteoporosis secondary to patients taking antipsychotic medications.

This prospective study included 175 patients taking antipsychotic medications and attending the psychiatric clinics at the King Fahd Hospital of the University, Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia. Demographic data, antipsychotic medications, type, and duration of administration of medication were collected. All patients had bone mass measurement using dual energy X-ray (DXA) absorptiometry. Patients were divided into 5-year groups, from ≤35 to ≥51 years. The data were entered in the database and analyzed using SPSS Inc version 20.

The average age of patients was 40.75 ± 7.16 years (range: 26-56 years), there were 120 (82.8%) males and 25 (17.2%) females. Our results indicate that the average duration of anti-psychotic medication use was 8.45 ± 5.4 years. DXA of the hip revealed that 25 (14.2%) patients were osteoporotic and 104 (59.42%) were osteopenic, while on the basis of the T-score of the lumbar spine, 77 (44%) patients were osteoporotic and 80 (45.7%) were osteopenic. On the basis of the spinal bone mineral density (BMD), 89.7% had low bone mass.

Anti-psychotic medications have a strong influence on the reduction of bone mass even in younger populations. The BMD of patients who are prescribed anti-psychotic medication need to be monitored for low bone mass and provided with the appropriate treatment.