Antipsychotics Linked to Diabetes in Kids
By Elizabeth Landau CNN | 8/21/2013, 7:23 p.m.
Antipsychotics have already been linked to type II diabetes in adults. Now a new study shows a connection between these medications and the chronic medical condition in kids as well.
Researchers report in the journal JAMA Psychiatry that children taking antipsychotics have three times the risk of developing type II diabetes, compared to children taking other psychotropic medications (drugs prescribed to treat mental disorders).
The study authors were surprised by the magnitude of the results. But the findings make sense, given that the side effects of antipsychotics include weight gain and insulin resistance, said Wayne A. Ray, study co-author and researcher in the Department of Preventive Medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine. However, the study shows an association, not a cause-effect relationship.
It's not uncommon for an adult taking antipsychotic medications to gain 20 to 40 pounds in a relatively short period of time, Ray said. Similar weight gain effects have been observed in children, proportionate to their body sizes.
"My takeaway message is that these medications should be used more cautiously in children and youth," said Ray.
Use of antipsychotics in general is increasing among children and youth, study authors said. They are now being prescribed for bipolar disorders, affective disorders and symptoms connected to behavior problems.
Antipsychotics are prescribed to some children with attention and conduct disorders because these medications are potent tranquilizers, and can reduce the occurrence of some types of behavior problems such as aggressiveness, Ray said.
But all of these mental conditions have other therapeutic options, and antipsychotics are often a secondary or off-label choice, the study said.
Schizophrenia, however, is different -- antipsychotics are the only recommended medications available for that condition. Study authors were interested in exploring conditions for which alternative treatments exist, so children with schizophrenia were excluded from the study.
Researchers examined the medical records of patients between the ages of 6 and 24 who were enrolled in the Tennessee Medicaid program. The sample size was large: There were 28,858 participants who had recently started taking antipsychotic drugs, and 14,429 in the control group who had recently begun a different psychotropic medication.
The most common diagnoses in the study group were ADHD and other problems of conduct, Ray said. Other conditions for which antipsychotics were prescribed included depression and bipolar disorders.
Study authors found a three-fold increased risk of type II diabetes in the patients taking antipsychotics, compared to those who were taking other psychotropic drugs. The risk was found particularly in children ages 6 to 17.
Researchers observed this association between antipsychotics and diabetes within one year of follow-up.
"We typically think of type II diabetes as a disease that takes a long time to develop, but what our finding implies is that even rather short-term use of these drugs in children and youth might not be safe with regard to diabetes," Ray said.
The total amount of antipsychotics patients took during the study period affected their risk of developing type II diabetes as well, researchers found; the higher the cumulative dose, the higher the risk. And for up to a year after participants stopped using antipsychotics, the risk remained heightened.