The impact of blood glucose and cholesterol levels on the manifestation of psychiatric disorders.

: This study examined possible association of fasting glucose and lipid abnormalities in psychiatric patients on conventional antipsychotic medications. A total of 305 subjects were used for the study, comprising 203 clinically diagnosed psychiatric patients and 102 non-psychiatric subjects used as control at the psychiatric clinic at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH). Questionnaires were administered, blood pressure and anthropometric measurements undertaken. Fasting blood samples were taken for glucose and total cholesterol. The patients included those treated with conventional antipsychotic agents. It was noted, that there were higher rates of diabetes (22.17%) and lipid abnormalities (42.43%) with lower rate of hypertension (5.91%) and obesity (5.91%) across the sample as compared to control. This finding suggests that the high prevalence of diabetes and lipid abnormalities, in a young, psychiatrically ill population makes the case for aggressive screening.