Increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome in patients with bipolar disorder compared to a selected control group-a Northern Netherlands LifeLines population cohort study

• Published in: Journal of affective disorders Vol. 295; pp. 1161 - 1168
• Main Authors: Schuster, M.P., Borkent, J., Chrispijn, M., Ioannou, M., Doornbos, B., Burger, H., Haarman, B.C.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01-12-2021
• Subjects: Antidepressive agents; Bipolar disorder; Comorbidity; Metabolic syndrome; Psychotropic drugs; Smoking; Psychotropic drugs; Bipolar disorder; Metabolic syndrome; Comorbidity; Antidepressive agents; Smoking
• ISSN: 0165-0327; 1573-2517
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jad.2021.08.139

•Higher prevalence of metabolic syndrome in bipolar disorder subjects.•Smoking is independently associated with metabolic syndrome in bipolar disorder.•No association between the use of antipsychotics and presence of metabolic syndrome.•Undertreatment of multiple metabolic syndrome components.
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is highly prevalent among patients with bipolar disorder (BD). The aims of this cross-sectional study were to determine the prevalence of MetS in Dutch BD subjects and compare it with a control group, to examine the association of demographic and clinical characteristics with MetS in BD, and to determine the extent to which metabolic dysregulation is treated in those patients.
493 Dutch adult patients (≥ 18 years) with BD receiving psychotropic drugs and 493 matched control subjects were compared using data from the biobank Lifelines. We determined MetS according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III-Adapted (NCEP ATP III-A) criteria. The difference in the prevalence of MetS and the associations with characteristics were analyzed with logistic regression.
BD subjects (30.6%) showed a significantly higher prevalence of MetS compared to the control group (14.2%) (p < .001, OR:2.67, 95% CI:1.94-3.66). Univariate analysis showed that smoking, body mass index (BMI) and antidepressant drug use were associated with MetS. Multivariate analysis showed that smoking (OR:2.01) was independently associated with MetS in BD. For hypertension, hyperglycemia and lipid disorder pharmacological treatment was provided to respectively 69.5%, 24% and 18.4% of the BD subjects in our sample.
Duration of illness of BD subjects was unknown.
This study demonstrated a higher prevalence of MetS in Dutch BD subjects compared to persons without BD. In addition, a remarkable undertreatment of some of the components of MetS was found.