A comparative study of the effects of risperidone and olanzapine on metabolic parameters of schizophrenic patients

Abstract

Background: Risperidone and olanzapine are the most commonly prescribed antipsychotic drugs. There is an overwhelming need to look into the adverse effects induced by these drugs; metabolic disturbance being one of the important of them. Metabolic disturbance induced by these drugs is a little searched domain; Most of the literature on their metabolic adverse effects is based on retrospective analysis. Moreover there is a distinct lack of information on the metabolic adverse effects of these drugs in Indian subjects with special reference to rural population. Methods: The present study was a prospective, open label, observational study conducted on 189 consecutive new subjects who were prescribed either risperidone (n=93) and olanzapine (n=96) in the psychiatry department of a rural medical college and hospital. Results: Patients on treatment of risperidone (n=84) showed an increase in all the variables except for HDL cholesterol levels which showed fall. The increases in weight, body mass index were found to be extremely significant (p<0.001). While the rise in the systolic and diastolic blood pressure, fasting sugars and triglycerides, changes was not significant. The fall in HDL cholesterol was not statistically significant. Conclusions: We conclude from this study that both risperidone and olanzapine have propensity to produce metabolic syndrome in subjects who use them. When compared, olanzapine has a higher chance to produce metabolic syndrome in subjects who were prescribed it, as compared to subjects who were on risperidone.