Prevalence of metabolic syndrome among Psychiatric Patients in the Kumasi Metropolis, Ghana

This cross-sectional study seeks to find the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome (MetS), its indi-vidual components and oxidative stress in psychiatric patients on antipsychotic medication com-pared to newly diagnosed patients attending the Psychiatric Department of the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Kumasi, Ghana, between February 2009 and July 2010. A total of 200 psychiatric patients comprising 100 newly diagnosed antipsychotic-na ve patients and 100 patients on antipsychotic medication were sampled for the study. MetS was diagnosed using the World Health Organization (WHO), International Diabetes Federation (IDF) and the National Choles-terol Education Programme, Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP ATP III) criteria. The overall prevalence of MetS was 11.5%, 13.5% and 15.5% using NCEP ATP III, WHO and IDF criteria re-spectively. The prevalence was significantly higher among psychiatric patients on treatment as compared to treatment-na ve group using NCEP ATP III (21.0% vs. 2.0%; p < 0.0001) and IDF (29.0% vs. 2.0%; p < 0.0001) criteria but not WHO (13.0% vs. 14.0%; p = 0.8372). These overall prev-alence rates were higher compared to the general Ghanaian population prevalence rates of 3.9%, 2.2% and 7.8% determined with the NCEP ATP III, WHO and IDF criteria respectively. Regular monitoring of metabolic parameters should be considered as a standard part of their medical care.