Increased diabetes risk associated with youth antipsychotic treatment, rare with small absolute incidence rates

A review of medical literature suggests antipsychotic treatment in youth was associated with an increased risk of type 2 diabetes, although the condition appeared to be rare with small absolute incidence rates, according to an article published online by JAMA Psychiatry.

The meta-analysis led by Christoph U. Correll, M.D., of the Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, Hempstead, N.Y., included 13 studies with 185,105 youth exposed to antipsychotics (average age 14.1 years and 59.5 percent male).

The cumulative risk of type 2 diabetes and its incidence rate per patient year of antipsychotic exposure were 2.6 times and three times higher compared with healthy controls and 2.1 times and 1.8 times higher compared with psychiatric patients not exposed to antipsychotics.

The study notes the smaller difference compared with psychiatrically ill patients than to healthy controls reflects that unhealthy lifestyle behaviors and other pharmacological treatments associated with psychiatric disorders likely also contribute to the risk of weight gain or obesity, metabolic abnormalities and type 2 diabetes.