Overweight or Obesity among Chinese Han People with Schizophrenia: Demographic, Clinical and Cognitive Correlations

People with schizophrenia are more likely to be afflicted by obesity or overweight compared to the general population. This study aimed to explore the incidence of overweight and obesity, clinical features and cognitive performance of Chinese Han patients with chronic schizophrenia who had overweight or obesity. We obtained data from 985 schizophrenia inpatients about overweight and obesity through body mass index (BMI). All patients were evaluated with the positive and negative syndrome scale, the Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) and the repeated battery for evaluation of the neuropsychological status (RBANS) scale. We collected demographic and clinical data using self-reported questionnaires. We divided patients into normal weight (BMI < 24 kg/m²), overweight (24 ≤ BMI < 28 kg/m²) and obese (≥28 kg/m²) groups according to the Working Group on Obesity in China (WGOC) criteria. We compared the clinical data between the three groups and then conducted binary logistic regression and linear regression to assess variables that were significantly associated with overweight and obesity and higher BMI. Of the sample, 324 (32.9%) and 191 (19.4%) patients had overweight and obesity, respectively. Patients who had overweight and obesity were younger, had less education, had higher waist and hip circumferences, higher rates of diabetes and a higher sumPANSP score (compared with patients in the normal group, p < 0.05). There were more female patients with obesity (compared with patients in the normal and overweight groups, p < 0.05). Logistic regression analysis indicated that overweight and obesity were associated with sumPANSP (OR = 1.03, 95%CI = 1-1.061, p = 0.049) and diabetes (OR = 1.891, 95%CI = 1.255-2.849, p = 0.002). Further linear regression showed that age (B = -0.004, t = -2.83, p = 0.005), educational level (B = -0.037, t = -2.261, p = 0.024), diabetes (B = 0.133, t = 2.721, p = 0.007) and sumPANSP (B = 0.008, t = 2.552, p = 0.011) were risk factors for higher BMI. We did not find cognitive performance differences between patients with or without overweight and obesity. Overweight and obesity were associated with some demographic and clinical factors in patients with persistent schizophrenia.