Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine body mass indexes (BMI) and lipid profiles of children and adolescents hospitalized for a psychiatric illness and exposed to an atypical antipsychotic.
Method: Medical records of children and adolescents (ages of 5–18 years) with an inpatient psychiatric hospitalization between July 1, 2004, and June 30, 2005, were reviewed. Subjects were required to have been treated with at least one atypical antipsychotic during the month prior to admission. Height, weight, and fasting lipid values completed upon admission were collected. Prevalences of overweight (sex-specific BMI for age ≥ the 95th percentile) and at risk for overweight (sex-specific BMI for age between the 85th and 94.9th percentiles) were determined and compared to estimates from the 2001–2002 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data. The prevalence of abnormal lipid profiles was also evaluated using widely accepted criteria specific for pediatric patients. Exploratory multiple linear regression models were fit to examine relationships of demographic and clinical variables with BMI z-scores and lipid profiles.
Results: Of 95 inpatients (mean age 14 years, 43% female, and 60% white) evaluated, 16% (n = 15) were at risk for overweight and 53% (n = 50) were overweight. Fifty-one percent (n = 48) and 48% (n = 46) of the sample had elevated triglycerides (TG) levels and low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) levels, respectively.
Conclusion: The prevalence of overweight among hospitalized children and adolescents with exposure to atypical antipsychotics is triple that of national norms. Dyslipidemia was also common in this inpatient sample. Future studies should assess the development of overweight, the factors contributing to it, and related comorbidities in youths with mental illness.
