More must be done to reduce cardiovascular risk for patients on antipsychotic medications

The interplay of psychopharmacology and medical conditions

“…Long-term psychopharmacotherapy may aggravate the already heightened susceptibility to cardiometabolic diseases in psychiatric patients. In line with this, we have also recently discussed the consequences of psychopharmacology on cardiovascular disease risk factors, including metabolic syndrome, hyperglycemia, and obesity (De Carlo et al, 2023;Osimo et al, 2023). These conditions, notably higher BMI and type 2 diabetes, are also implicated in specific psychiatric challenges -chronicity, treatment resistance, and symptom severity -further necessitating a nuanced approach in clinical decisions and psychopharmacological prescribing (Fanelli and Serretti, 2022;Kraus et al, 2023;Possidente et al, 2023).…”

Focus on neurodevelopmental conditions and antipsychotics prescription patterns

“…In particular, the newer antipsychotics, although better tolerated than previous generations of drugs, have a high incidence rate of metabolic syndrome. This topic has already been extensively studied, including in this journal (Ijaz et al, 2018;Akinola et al, 2023;De Carlo et al, 2023;Osimo et al, 2023). The article in this issue presents data that further contributes to our understanding of the phenomenon, not least because it uses a strict definition of metabolic syndrome (Abdel Aziz et al, 2024).…”