[Antipsychotic drugs. Risk factors for diabetes]

Abstract

ANTIPSYCHOTICS AND DIABETES: After 50 years' use of antipsychotics, it is pertinent to draw-up a circumspect review of the side effects of these psychotropic agents. Moreover, few articles have attempted to elucidate the relationship between the monitoring of carbohydrate metabolism and the prescription of this type of medication. SEVERAL MECHANISMS AT THE ORIGIN OF AN IMBALANCE IN GLYCAEMIA: Antipsychotics, notably the atypical forms, represent an additional factor of risk for developing diabetes. The weight gain secondary to this treatment plays an important part in this imbalance, but other mechanisms may also contribute. DEPENDING ON THE TYPE OF ANTIPSYCHOTIC: Our present knowledge is insufficient to be able to quantify the effect of each atypical antipsychotic on diabetes. The only tendency that has been reproduced in several studies concerns the increased risk associated with dibenzodiazepine antipsychotics (clozapine and olanzapine), compared with the other antipsychotics.