Assessment of liver and kidney functions in patients receiving antipsychotic and antiepileptic drugs in Gaza strip

Background: many drugs affect liver and kidney functions, among these, drugs used to treat psychotic patients such as chlorpromazine (CPZ) which is used to treat schizophrenia and Trihexyphenidyl- hydrochloride ( T.H.P) which is used to treat side effects of antipsychotic medication, another drug which is used to treat epilepsy is valproic acid (VPA) which may affect the liver and kidney functions. Objective: The present study aims to assess liver and kidney functions in patients receiving antipsychotic and antiepileptic drugs for more than one year . Materials and methods:The present study is a case control study comprised of 220 subjects including 110 psychiatric and epileptic patients from Mental Health Clinics in Gaza and 110 healthy people as a control group. Laboratory investigations were carried out by collecting five ml blood from each subject into vacutainer plain tubes. The serum was separated and used for the assessment of gamma glutamyltransferase (GGT), aspartate aminotransferase(AST), alanine aminotransferase( ALT), urea, creatinine, uric acid, alkaline phosphatase (ALP), total and direct bilirubin (TB, DB). They were assayed biochemically using biosystem autoanalyzer At Beit Hanoun hospital laboratories. Results: The liver and kidney function tests among epileptic patients receiving Valproic Acid (VPA) showed high statistically significant increase between cases and control groups in AST level(p< 0.01) while There was no significant difference observed in relation to ALT, ALP,GGT levels and TB,DB,urea,creatinine and uric acid concentrations as Compared to control. liver and kidney function tests in psychiatric patients suffered from schizophrenia who were receiving chlorpromazine (CPZ) with Trihexyphenidyl hydrochloride (T.H.P) showed, significant increase between cases and control group in relation to AST(p=0.004), ALP(P=0.022), GGT(P=0.005), DB(P=0.001), creatinine (P?0.01) and uric asid (P=0.029)tests. TB and urea concentrations were not Significant. Conclusion: Liver and kidney functions should be monitored regularly for psychiatric patients, in particular, those who are therapeutically managed with a combined dose of CPZ and THP. Keywords: liver & kidney function tests ,antipsychotic & antiepileptic drugs, Gaza, Palestine