Prevalence of obesity in adolescent and young adult patients with and without schizophrenia and in relationship to antipsychotic medication

The prevalence of obesity in inpatients of a German psychiatric rehabilitation center for adolescents and young adults (mean age 19.5 years) is assessed and set into relationship to diagnosis and medication regimen. In a cross-sectional naturalistic study body weights and freights of 151 inpatients, 109 of whom presented with ICD-10 schizophrenia spectrum disorders, were measured for the calculation of body mass indices (BMI, kg/m(2)); current medication regimen including the duration of treatment was assessed from medical records. BMIs were plotted into gender- and age-specific BMI-percentiles representative for the German population. Among the whole study population, obesity (BMI greater than or equal to 90th percentile) was apparent in 44/98 (45%) of the male and in 31/53 (59%) of the female inpatients (overall: 50%). With respect to schizophrenia spectrum disorders, 36/70 (51%) males and 25/39 (64%) females (overall: 56%) were obese in contrast to 14/42 (33%) among the individuals without schizophrenia. Set into relationship to the treatment groups, the prevalence rates of obesity were 64% in patients treated with clozapine (n=69), 56% for other atypical antipsychotics (olanzapine, sulpiride, risperidone; n=27), 30% for classic antipsychotics (haloperidol, flupentixol, perazine; n=20) and 28% for the currently drug-free group (n=25). Together with other published findings in adults, these results suggest an increased prevalence of obesity among young patients with schizophrenia and especially among patients chronically treated with atypical antipsychotics. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.