Antipsychotic Polypharmacy Increases Risk of Hypertension, Study Suggests

Individuals who take multiple antipsychotics to manage schizophrenia symptoms have three times the risk of developing hypertension relative to those taking one antipsychotic, according to astudy published inSchizophrenia Bulletin. The risk of hypertension was greatest when the patients were taking multiple first-generation antipsychotics.“[T]he risks of developing hypertension and its cardiovascular consequences over time need to be considered when making decisions on whether [antipsychotic polypharmacy] is justified,” wrote Emily Eyles, Ph.D., of the University of Bristol and colleagues. If antipsychotic polypharmacy is determi ned to be necessary, patients should receive regular blood pressure monitoring and potentially antihypertensive treatment to reduce cardiovascular risk, Eyles and colleagues continued.The researchers compiled three study cohorts using data from the U.K.Clinical Practice Research Datalink, which includes de-identified patient records from over 700 primary care centers across the United Kingdom. The researchers identified adults with schizophrenia who received a new prescription for one or more antipsychotics between July 1, 1994, and August 30, 2018, and who had no history of diabetes (cohort 1), hypertension (cohort 2), or hyperlipidemia (cohort 3). Patients in each cohort were tracked for up to five years; until they received a diagnosis for diabetes, hypertension, or hyperlipidemia; they stopped taking antipsychotics; or they were no longer bein...
Source: Psychiatr News - Category: Psychiatry Tags: antipsychotics first-generation antipsychotics monotherapy polypharmacy schizophrenia Schizophrenia Bulletin second-generation antipsychotics Source Type: research