Journal of Psychiatry

Abstract

Olanzapine-Induced Metabolic Syndrome What Can We Learn from Africa, Sudan

Abdalkhalig Mohamed Jabir and Abdelgadir Hussein Osman

It is still unclear whether ethnic and cultural differences of individuals living in Africa continent would affect the emergence of the well-established findings of olanzapine related metabolic syndrome in the international literature, in ways that can be attributed to idiosyncratic, biological, cultural or otherwise. Therefore, we carried out a crosssectional study involving 100 candidates enrolled, consecutively from two national psychiatric clinics in Khartoum, Sudan. All participants were taking Olanzapine monotherapy for a period nine month or more. This article describes findings related to presence or absence of Metabolic Syndrome (MetS), and any medical and sociodemographic factors associated with the condition. We also, worked out the 10 year Framingham risk score for the likelihood of developing coronary heart disease for all candidates. Metabolic syndrome was found in 45% of all subjects. Moreover, candidates that presented with metabolic syndrome did so, regardless of the dose size of olanzapine, the diagnosis prescribed for or their gender. However, greater vulnerability for developing MetS, was detected in subjects with family history of diabetes. Consequently, these patients were found to have a higher 10 year Framingham risk score for coronary disease.