| Summary: | Abstract Schizophrenia is associated with a shortened life expectancy and increased somatic comorbidity with e.g. cardiovascular disorders. The purpose of this study was to evaluate hyperlipidemia and metabolic syndrome in schizophrenia and thus find specific risk factors for excess mortality and morbidity. The study population was a subsample of the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort, a general population-based birth cohort. In 1997, 8,463 members of the cohort were invited to a clinical examination, where e.g. blood samples were taken after an overnight fast. Total cholesterol (TC), high-density lipoprotein (HDL), low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and triglycerides (TG) were determined. The following psychiatric diagnostic categories were used: 1) DSM-III-R schizophrenia (n = 31), 2) other psychoses (n = 21), 3) non-psychotic disorders (n = 104), 4) comparison group (n = 5,498), having no psychiatric hospital treatment. Mean TC (5.5 mmol/l) and TG (1.5 mmol/l) were significantly higher in the schizophrenia group than in the comparison group (5.1 mmol/l and 1.2 mmol/l, respectively). To evaluate serum lipid levels in subjects with and without antipsychotic medication the sample was analyzed according to used medication. The prevalence of hypercholesterolemia, high LDL cholesterol and hypertriglyceridemia was high in persons using antipsychotic medication (31%, 20% and 22%, respectively) compared to persons without such medication (12%, 10% and 7%, respectively). We found higher triglyceride levels in patients who were ≤ 20 years old at the onset of schizophrenia (mean 1.7 mmol/l; N = 17) as compared with patients with later onset (mean 1.4 mmol/l; N = 14) or non-hospitalized controls (mean 1.2 mmol/l; N = 5,453). The difference between the first and third group was significant (p < 0.01), and there was a negative correlation between the age at onset and the level of serum triglycerides (r = -0.35, p = 0.05). To evaluate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome, the subjects were assessed for the presence of ...
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