Schizophrenia and Heart Health: Are Antipsychotics a Friend or Foe?

TL;DR

This study explores how antipsychotic medications affect heart health in schizophrenia patients.

Contribution

The study identifies specific links between LAI antipsychotics and cardiovascular risk factors in schizophrenia patients.

Findings

Cardiovascular risk factors are strongly linked to the duration of psychosis in patients.

LAI antipsychotic treatment duration correlates with cardiovascular risk factors.

Specific LAI antipsychotics are associated with increased cardiovascular risks.

Abstract

Schizophrenia is one of the most disabling of the psychiatric diseases. The Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale Extended (BRSE) is used to evaluate the severity of psychiatric symptoms. Long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics are commonly used and are preferred over oral antipsychotic medications. A two-center-based cross-sectional study was performed on 130 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder based on the International Classification of Diseases 10 criteria. We studied the relation between the development of cardiovascular risk factors and the antipsychotic medication that was administered in these patients. Our study demonstrates strong links between several cardiovascular risk factors and the duration of psychosis; the duration of the LAI antipsychotic treatment; the duration between the onset of the disease and the start of LAI antipsychotic treatment; and the use of specific LAI antipsychotic medications.

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