[Survey of obesity and underweight among inpatients with schizophrenia in psychiatric hospitals throughout Japan].

AIM: Many studies have reported a high prevalence of obesity in patients with schizophrenia compared to the general population. However, no nationwide survey of schizophrenic inpatients has been conducted in Japan. The aims of this study were to conduct a large-scale survey of BMI among hospitalized patients with schizophrenia in Japan, identify the prevalence of obesity and underweight, and examine its associated factors. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study. The subjects were 14,591 schizophrenic inpatients (7,645 males and 6,946 females) with complete data from 89 facilities in Japan that agreed to participate in this study. Survey items included age, gender, height, weight, BMI, length of hospital stay, antipsychotic agents, and types of hospital ward, and the survey took place between July to December 2010. RESULTS: When the BMI distribution was compared between the general adult population and patients, the rate of obesity was 26.1% in the general adult population and 21.9% in the patients, being lower among the patients, and the rate of underweight was 7.0% in the general adult population and 19.5% in the patients, being 2.8 times higher among the patients. Subsequently, logistic regression was used to examine factors associated with obesity and underweight. As the results, the obesity odds ratio was 1.32 times higher in patients in their 30s than in their 20s, 1.31 times higher in females than males, 0.62 times higher with a > or = 1-year hospital stay than < 3-month stay, 1.42 times higher in patients receiving > or = 4 antipsychotic agents than those receiving single typical agents, and 0.58 times higher in patients kept in a locked ward than those in an open ward. The underweight odds ratio was 2.03 times higher in patients in their > or = 70s than in their 20s, 1.18 times higher in females than males, 1.47 times higher with a 3-month < 1-year hospital stay than < 3-month stay, 0.7 times higher in patients receiving > or = 4 antipsychotic agents than those receiving single typical or atypical agents, and 1.81 times higher in patients kept in a locked ward than those in an open ward. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity in Japanese schizophrenic inpatients was associated with < 3-month hospitalization, antipsychotic polypharmacy, and an open ward, whereas underweight was associated with > or = 3-month hospitalization, the administration of single typical or atypical antipsychotic agents, and a locked ward, independent from age and gender.

Body mass index of inpatients with schizophrenia in Japan.

OBJECTIVE: Many studies reported that obesity rate in the Western countries is higher in schizophrenia patients than in general population. In this study, we surveyed nationwide Body Mass Index (BMI) status of hospitalized Japanese schizophrenia patients. METHODS: Subjects included 15,171 patients (7,897 men and 7,274 women) hospitalized for schizophrenia, who were sampled from all 47 administrative divisions in Japan. The BMI data of these patients were compared to those of the general population in the 2009 National Health and Nutrition Survey conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Health. RESULTS: The median BMI value in the patients was 21.6 kg/m2 (first quartile, 19.1; third quartile, 24.5). The percentages of BMI in obese, normal-weight, and underweight patients were 21.6%, 58.2%, and 20.2%, respectively. In the Japanese male patients, frequency of obesity was lower, and underweight was higher than those in the general population. In female patients, frequency of both obesity and underweight were higher than those in the general population. CONCLUSIONS: Our results provided evidence that underweight as well as obesity is a characteristic in Japanese schizophrenia inpatients.