Do Antipsychotic Medications Cause Diabetes?
While treatment options for severe mental illnesses such as schizophrenia have improved greatly over the past few decades, there is increasing concern among clinicians and researchers that a certain class of antipsychotic medication may have disturbing side effects. Some of these drugs, called “atypical” or “second generation” antipsychotics (SGAs), have been shown to cause significant weight gain and glucose intolerance in patients, leading the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue a blanket warning on the whole class that associates their use with increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Link to diabetes causes concern When studies began to show that troubling side effects like considerable weight gain, glucose intolerance and increased prevalence of type 2 diabetes were not uncommon in patients using SGAs, physicians, scientists and the FDA took notice. A study appearing the April 2002 issue of American Journal of Psychiatry, found there was an association of diabetes with the use o
