Metabolic syndrome in the population of psychiatric patients in Novi Sad

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in a sample of hospitalized patients and to relate it to socio-demographic characteristics, psychiatric diagnosis and psycho-pharmacotherapy. METHODS: The study was conceived as a retrospective cohort study. Data of interest for this research were collected from the medical history of hospitalized patients at the Clinic for Psychiatry KCV in the period from January 2018 to January 2020. RESULTS: Out of a total of 2409 patients hospitalized at the Psychiatric Clinic, 1327 patients had criteria for metabolic syndrome, with a high prevalence of 55.1% among this population. Although there are more respondents in the sample (55.7%), males with a diagnosis of MetS (58.1%) dominate. The data show that the prevalence of metabolic syndrome increases statistically significantly with the age of psychiatric patients. However, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in the study population younger than 30 years is about 33%. Among patients with incomplete primary school, 67% have a diagnosis of metabolic syndrome, which is statistically significantly higher than other compulsory profiles (p <0.001). The study sample shows a statistically significantly higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome among patients treated for psychotic disorders, with as much as 67% prevalence. Therapy with atypical antipsychotics was most associated with metabolic syndrome in 67.5% of patients, followed by a combination of 2 or more antipsychotics with 60.7% (x²=26.99, p<0.0019). Abdominal obesity is the strongest predictor of the response that the subjects will suffer from the metabolic syndrome, the quotient of which is 1.34 by logistic regression. Another important predictor refers to triglyceridemia, whose probability quotient is 1.12. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of metabolic syndrome in psychiatric patients in Novi Sad is alarmingly high, in more than half of patients, especially those treated for psychotic and mood disorders and using atypical antipsychotics and combinations of antipsychotics. In a patient with metabolic syndrome there is male dominance, low educational profile and the prevalence increases statistically significantly with increasing age of psychiatric patients.