Publication

Abstract : AimThis study aimed to assess the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) and subthreshold MS in antipsychotic naïve patients with schizophrenia by pooling the data from three different centres in India.MethodsOne hundred thirty‐seven antipsychotic naïve patients with schizophrenia were evaluated for MS using common criteria for clinical diagnosis.ResultsTwenty‐six patients (19%) met consensus criteria. Additionally, 56 patients (40.9%) fulfilled one criterion and 32 patients (23.3%) fulfilled two criteria of MS out of five criteria.ConclusionOne‐fifth of antipsychotic naïve patients with schizophrenia had MS and another two‐third had at least one metabolic abnormality. Awareness of such a high risk is vitally important for rational selection of antipsychotic medications as well as effective implementation of preventive measures.