Bridging the gap from evidence to policy and practice: reducing the progression to metabolic syndrome for children and adolescents on antipsychotic medication

Objectives: For children and adolescents, the adverse effects from antipsychotic medicines exaggerate the already considerable burden of having a serious mental illness. Many of these young people face a future not only limited by stigmatizing psychiatric illness but also a life restricted and shortened by physical ill-health, particularly cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes. This review focuses on bridging the current gap between available evidence and practice guidelines and policies.

Method: Following an extensive literature search, key papers focusing on the evidence of the nature and occurrence of metabolic morbidity in children and adolescents following the use of antipsychotic medication were included.

Results: There is growing evidence to suggest that some of the key antecedents of metabolic syndrome occur soon after diagnosis and initiation of antipsychotic medication, and they accumulate over time.

Conclusion: While guidelines and policies around the monitoring of metabolic syndrome in children and adolescents with mental illness receiving antipsychotic medication are limited, an opportunity lies in altering the trajectory towards cardiovascular disease and type-2 diabetes by early recognition and intervention to reduce cardiometabolic risk rather than waiting until disease end-points are reached later in life.