Background: Prevalence of physical comorbidity in severe mental illness is a significant public health concern, but comparative data in people with diagnoses other than schizophrenia are sparse.
Aims: To investigate the prevalence of metabolic disease and cardiovascular risk in people with severe mental illness treated with antipsychotics in the community.
Methods: Case-control study of 90 people treated with antipsychotics in the community and 92 age- and gender-matched controls. The prevalence of metabolic syndrome and 10-year cardiovascular risk were calculated.
Results: People on antipsychotics had a significantly worse metabolic profile than controls (F=6.583, d.f.=15,161, P<0.0001). Moreover, metabolic syndrome was more prevalent (OR=3.68, 95% CI 1.71-7.93, P=0.001), as was cardiovascular risk across a number of outcomes. These results are consistent across diagnostic groups.
Conclusions: People with severe mental illness treated with antipsychotics have excess metabolic dysfunction and heightened risk for cardiovascular disease.