Abstract
Background: Despite extensive clinical concern about rates of obesity in patients with schizophrenia, there is little evidence of the extent of this problem at a population level.
Aims: To estimate levels of obesity in a national population sample by comparing patients with schizophrenia with matched controls.
Method: We calculated levels of obesity for each patient with schizophrenia from the national Primary Care Clinical Informatics Unit database (n=4658) matched with age, gender and neighbourhood controls.
Results: We demonstrated a significant increased obesity hazard for the schizophrenia group using Cox regression analysis, with odds ratio (OR) of 1.94 (95% CI 1.81–2.10) (under the assumption of missing body mass index (BMI) indicating non-obesity) and OR=1.68 (95% CI 1.55–1.81) where no assumptions were made for missing BMI data.
Conclusions: People with schizophrenia are at increased risk of being obese compared with controls matched by age, gender and practice attended. Priority should be given to research which aims to reduce weight and increase activity in those with schizophrenia.
Aims: To estimate levels of obesity in a national population sample by comparing patients with schizophrenia with matched controls.
Method: We calculated levels of obesity for each patient with schizophrenia from the national Primary Care Clinical Informatics Unit database (n=4658) matched with age, gender and neighbourhood controls.
Results: We demonstrated a significant increased obesity hazard for the schizophrenia group using Cox regression analysis, with odds ratio (OR) of 1.94 (95% CI 1.81–2.10) (under the assumption of missing body mass index (BMI) indicating non-obesity) and OR=1.68 (95% CI 1.55–1.81) where no assumptions were made for missing BMI data.
Conclusions: People with schizophrenia are at increased risk of being obese compared with controls matched by age, gender and practice attended. Priority should be given to research which aims to reduce weight and increase activity in those with schizophrenia.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 254-256 |
| Number of pages | 3 |
| Journal | BJPsych Open |
| Volume | 3 |
| Issue number | 5 |
| Early online date | 17 Oct 2017 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Oct 2017 |
Bibliographical note
We would like to thank Dr Moira Connolly, Professor Steve Lawrie and Dr Carol Robertson who, along with the authors, were part of a protocol development group funded by the NHS Research Scotland Mental Health Network (NRS MHN) formerly known as the Scottish Mental Health Research Network (SMHRN). We are grateful to the NRS MHN for funding the data acquisition and to the PCCIU for providing the data. We also thank Professor Gordon Murray for statistical advice.
Access to Document
- Obesity in individuals with schizophrenia: a case controlled study in Scotland
© 2017 The Royal College of Psychiatrists This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Non-Commercial, No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).