Schizophrenia, metabolic syndrome and quality of life

Metabolic syndrome is a collection of factors that can add to people's risk of developing heart disease and other health problems and includes having a pot belly, high cholesterol, being overweight, having high blood pressure and having difficulty controlling one's blood sugar. People with schizophrenia are prone to developing metabolic syndrome, partly because the drugs they take make them put on weight. A team of Spanish researchers looked at the effects of metabolic syndrome on quality of life in a study of 136 people with schizophrenia, of whom 49 had metabolic syndrome. They found that the older people were, the longer they had been ill and the longer they had taken antipsychotics the more likely they were to have metabolic syndrome. Metabolic syndrome was also associated with a lower quality of life and mobility problems. Quality of life was negatively affected most strongly by age but also by metabolic syndrome and mobility problems.

Tomás Sánchez-Araña Moreno ... [et al] - Quality of life in a sample of schizophrenic patients with and without metabolic syndrome Journal of Psychiatric Intensive Care (2010), 6(2): 101-108