Diagnosis and management of hyperglycaemia in patients treated with antipsychotic drugs

Research results indicate the presence of an association between mental disorders, certain antipsychotics, and the risk of developing prediabetes (preDM) and specific type diabetes mellitus (DM). However, there are no precise recommendations for their diagnosis and treatment. The obtained data suggest the necessity to perform diagnostics of carbohydrate disorders at the onset of the first symptoms of psychosis, even before the implementation of antipsychotic drugs, and the oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) seems to be the optimal tool. There is a lot of controversy regarding the timing of control tests addressing the development of dysglycaemia during the use of antipsychotic drugs. We suggest that it should be carried out during the first 4-8 weeks, and in the absence of disorders it should be repeated once a year or with a change in antipsychotic treatment. The diagnostic regimen should then include the need for OGTT supported by routine determination of the percentage of glycated haemoglobin. If dysglycaemia is diagnosed, the therapeutic management should include non-pharmacological management and hypoglycaemic agents. These recommendations should be individually tailored to each patient and take into account the presence of obesity, which is often found in this group of patients. Weight reduction can be achieved with a properly balanced diet, physical effort, and in justified situations also with drugs effectively reducing body weight. For this reason, drugs are recommended that, if preDM and DM are diagnosed, simultaneously lower glucose levels and reduce body weight. So far, effectiveness in this area has been demonstrated for 2 incretinomimetics: exenatide and liraglutide. Due to the mechanism of preDM/DM development in patients using antipsychotics, the usefulness of other hypoglycaemic drugs with insulin-sensitizing potential - metformin and pioglitazone - has also been suggested. To date, there has been no research on the benefits of other hypoglycaemic drugs in this group of patients.