Sex-differential effects of olanzapine vs. aripiprazole on glucose and lipid metabolism in first-episode schizophrenia

Abstract Objective To compare sex difference in metabolic effect of olanzapine versus aripiprazole on schizophrenia. Methods A twelve-week prospective open-label cohort study to compare four subgroups according to first-episode schizophrenia patients' type of drug usage and sex: female aripiprazole (n = 11), male aripiprazole (n = 11), female olanzapine (n = 10), and male olanzapine (n = 11) for body mass index, fasting serum triglyceride, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and fasting glucose. Results Aripiprazole may be associated with weight gain in female patients with low-baseline weight. Aripiprazole may have an adverse effect of weight and favorable effects of circulating glucose and lipid on female over male schizophrenia patients. The aripiprazole-induced changes in glucose and lipid may be independent of body fat storage, especially for female schizophrenia patients. Olanzapine may have adverse effects of weight, glucose and lipid profiles on female over male schizophrenic patients. Discussion Our findings fill the gap in knowledge and provide a sex-specific guidance to psychiatrist better tailoring treatment to individual sex-differential characteristics and a key clue to understand the sex-differential mechanism of antipsychotics-induced metabolic dysfunction.

Metabolic dysregulation in early onset psychiatric disorder before and after exposure to antipsychotic drugs

Antipsychotic Drugs (APDs) are being widely prescribed to treat various disorders, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder; however, abnormal glucose metabolism and weight gain have been reported with Atypical Anti-Psychotic drugs (AAPDs) that can lead to insulin-resistance and type 2 diabetes mellitus. The study was designed to assess various biochemical parameters including insulin and blood sugar before and after exposure to APDs in order to exclude the involvement of psychiatric disorders and certain other factors in metabolic dysregulations. Fifty seven APDs-naïve patients with first episode psychosis were divided into six groups who received olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, aripiprazole, haloperidol or combination of olanzapine with escitalopram and haloperidol. The serum samples were taken before the intake of the first dose and then on follow-up. Decrease in the level of elevated insulin and glucose was observed post-treatment in some patients, while others were observed whose insulin and glucose levels increased post-treatment, yet some patients did not show any disturbance in the insulin and glucose levels. It is concluded that psychiatric disorders by itself, narcotics, cigarette smoking and use of oral snuff may be also be implicated in metabolic dysregulations. The effects of APDs on insulin and glucose in healthy volunteers might be different than in patients with psychiatric disorders.

Actualización en enfermedad con cuerpos de Lewy / Update in Lewy body disease

La enfermedad con cuerpos de Lewy incluye 2 entidades que podrían ser consideradas variantes clínicas de una misma patología: la demencia con cuerpos de Lewy y la demencia en enfermedad de Parkinson. Con la finalidad de describir correctamente lo que sucede en la evolución de la enfermedad se divide el cuadro en etapa prodrómica y de demencia propiamente dicha. La primera está clínicamente representada por aquel período en el cual, si bien el paciente exhibe algunos signos y síntomas propios de la enfermedad, no reúne criterios de demencia. A pesar de ser difícil de definir y por carecerse todavía de contundentes datos clínicos y biomarcadores, se caracteriza principalmente por deterioro leve selectivo en función atencional ­ visuoespacial, trastorno del sueño REM y disautonomía‒. La segunda etapa está claramente caracterizada en los criterios de consenso del año 2005. Recientemente hemos publicado la validación de un instrumento llamado ALBA Screening Instrument, que permite diagnosticar con alta sensibilidad y especificidad la enfermedad aun en etapas tempranas y diferenciarla de otras patologías semejantes. La tomografía por emisión de positrones (PET) para transportador de dopamina es el procedimiento de referencia (gold standard) del diagnóstico. El tratamiento sintomático con anticolinesterásicos y neurolépticos atípicos favorece una buena evolución de la enfermedad y es fundamental tener en cuenta evitar medicamentos que pueden dañar gravemente a los pacientes como los anticolinérgicos y antipsicóticos típicos. Los avances en el diagnóstico y la difusión del impacto de esta enfermedad en la población contribuirán a generar mayores esfuerzos de investigación para hallar un tratamiento eficaz, preventivo o curativo o de ambas características. (AU)

Lewy body disease includes 2 entities that could be considered clinical variants of the same pathology: Dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson's disease Dementia. Two stages of the disease are described in this review, a prodromal stage and one of explicit dementia. The first one is clinically represented by that period in which, the patient exhibits some typical features of the disease, but not dementia criteria. Despite being difficult to define the prodromal stage and that strong clinical data and biomarkers are still lacking, there is evidence to characterize it mainly by mild selective impairment in attention and visuo-spatial function, REM sleep disorder and dysautonomia. The second stage is clearly characterized in the known consensus criteria of 2005. We have recently published the validation of an instrument called ALBA Screening Instrument which showed a high sensitivity and specificity for diagnosis of the disease even in the early stages. It´s useful to differentiate the disease from other similar pathologies. Positron Emission Tomography for dopamine transporter is the gold standard of diagnosis in life. Symptomatic treatment with anticholinesterases and atypical neuroleptics help patients in their evolution of the disease. Anticholinergics and typical antipsychotics are agents to avoid in the treatmen of the disease because can severely damage patients. Future advances in the diagnosis and dissemination of the knowledge of the disease will contribute to generate greater research efforts to find an effective preventive and / or curative treatment. (AU)