By Pamela O'Connor
In recent
studies, it has been shown that children taking antipsychotic medications are
three times more likely to develop type II
diabetes, compared to children taking other psychotropic medications. This has
also been seen in adults quite frequently. Although this is an alarming
discovery, it is expected due to the side effect causing excess weight gain and
insulin resistance. Adults taking these medications are likely to gain 20 to 40
pounds, and proportionally to their body sizes, so are children. Wayne A. Ray
of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine took part in this study and advises
that these medications be used more cautiously with younger children.
Antipsychotics are becoming more and more
frequent among the youth. They are being used for bipolar disorders, affective
disorders and many behavior problems. These medications can also help with
lowering aggressiveness because they are potent tranquilizers, helping to fix
conduct and attention disorders.
This study was conducted on patients ages
6-24 with 28,858 participants recently taking antipsychotic drugs and 14,429
participants taking a different psychotropic medication. The risk of diabetes
found was in patients ages 6-17, compared with the group taking other
psychotropic drugs. This was observed within one year of follow-up. Diabetes is
normally thought of as a disease that takes a long time to develop, Ray said.
However, it was shown that even short term use can be unsafe with the risk of
diabetes. It was shown that the higher the cumulative dose, the higher the risk
of diabetes was. For up to a year after the participants stopped taking the
dosage, the risk remained heightened.
Ray’s advice on this pressing matter would
be to try alternatives to this medication and only after those have not worked
should patients try these antipsychotic drugs.
No comments:
Post a Comment