Publication:

A comparative study of the effects of risperidone and olanzapine on metabolic parameters of schizophrenic patients

Background Risperidone and olanzapine are the most commonly prescribed antipsychotic drugs. There is an overwhelming need to look into the adverse effects induced by these drugs; metabolic disturbance being one of the important of them. Metabolic disturbance induced by these drugs is a little searched domain; Most of the literature on their metabolic adverse effects is based on retrospective analysis. Moreover there is a distinct lack of information on the metabolic adverse effects of these drugs in Indian subjects with special reference to rural population.

Methods The present study was a prospective, open label, observational study conducted on 189 consecutive new subjects who were prescribed either risperidone (n=93) and olanzapine (n=96) in the psychiatry department of a rural medical college and hospital.

Results Patients on treatment of risperidone (n=84) showed an increase in all the variables except for HDL cholesterol levels which showed fall. The increases in weight, body mass index were found to be extremely significant (p<0.001). While the rise in the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting sugars and triglycerides, changes was not significant. The fall in HDL cholesterol was not statistically significant.

Conclusions We conclude from this study that both risperidone and olanzapine have propensity to produce metabolic syndrome in subjects who use them. When compared, olanzapine has a higher chance to produce metabolic syndrome in subjects who were prescribed it, as compared to subjects who were on risperidone.