Abstract
The use of antipsychotics is associated with metabolic side effects, which put patients with schizophrenia or related disorders at risk for cardiovascular morbidity. The high interindividual variability in antipsychotic-induced metabolic abnormalities suggests that genetic makeup is a possible determinant. In this cross-sectional study, we investigated whether genotypes of the HTR2C receptor are associated with the metabolic syndrome in patients using antipsychotics. Patients were identified from a schizophrenia disease management program. In this program, patients' blood pressure, triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, and waist circumference are measured regularly during follow-up. The primary end point of our study was the prevalence of the metabolic syndrome as classified by a modified version of the National Cholesterol Education Program's Adult Treatment Panel III. Primary determinants were polymorphisms in the HTR2C receptor gene (HTR2C:c.1-142948[GT]n, rs3813928 [-997 G/A], rs3813929 [-759 C/T], rs518147 [-697 G/C], and rs1414334 [C > G]). The included patients (n = 112) mainly (>80%) used atypical antipsychotics (clozapine, olanzapine, and risperidone). Carriership of the variant alleles of the HTR2C polymorphisms rs518147, rs1414334, and HTR2C:c.1-142948(GT)n was associated with an increased risk of the metabolic syndrome (adjusted odds ratio [OR], 2.62 [95% confidence interval {CI}, 1.00-6.85]; OR, 4.09 [95% CI, 1.41-11.89]; and OR, 3.12 [95% CI, 1.13-8.16]), respectively. Our findings suggest that HTR2C genotypes are associated with antincreased risk of metabolic syndrome in patients taking antipsychotics.
