Schizophrenia and metabolic dysregulation: shared roots?

Observations from the premedication era suggest that patients with schizophrenia might be predisposed to metabolic dysregulation even without exposure to antipsychotic drugs. 1 Lorenz WF Sugar tolerance in dementia praecox and other mental disorders. Arch NeurPsych. 1922; 8: 184-196 Crossref Scopus (73) Google Scholar Studying this predisposition nowadays is very difficult because drug treatment for psychosis cannot be withheld merely for research purposes. Benjamin Perry and colleagues took an interesting approach to circumvent this difficulty and report their findings in The Lancet Psychiatry. 2 Perry BI McIntosh G Weich S Singh S Rees K The association between first-episode psychosis and abnormal glycaemic control: systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Psych. 2016; (published online Oct 5.)http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(16)30262-0 PubMed Google Scholar The association between first-episode psychosis and abnormal glycaemic control: systematic review and meta-analysisOur findings suggest a potential link between prediabetic markers, in particular impaired glucose tolerance and insulin resistance, and first-episode psychosis. However, we cannot establish causality, and the studies contributing to this review were at some risk of bias. Nevertheless, the findings might help to explain the increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes in patients with schizophrenia and could have implications for the management of patients with schizophrenia. Full-Text PDF