Diabetes mellitus in children may be tied to them increasingly being prescribed antipsychotic medications, a study suggests.
Used to treat conditions such as bipolar disorder and autism, these "second-generation" antipsychotics, which include Risperdal (risperidone), Zyprexa (olanzapine), Seroquel (quetiapine) and Abilify (aripiprazole), have been linked to an increased risk of adult diabetes and weight gain in children, according to Reuters. Children's use of antipsychotics increased by 65 percent from 2002 to 2009.
Susan E. Andrade of the University of Massachusetts in Worcester looked at health plan records for 74,000 five- to 18-year-olds between 2001 and 2008.
Of these children, 9,636 of them were prescribed a second-generation antipsychotic during the study period. Fifty-seven kids out of the entire group developed diabetes.
Children on antipsychotics had four times the risk of diabetes than those not taking any psychiatric medication, with a rate of about three cases per 1,000 children per year, compared to just under 0.8 cases per 1,000 among other children. But the risk was not statistically greater than that for kids on antidepressants, also known to cause weight gain, according to Andrade.
