Abstract
Socioeconomic disparities were assessed in predicting metabolic risk among veterans with serious mental illness. Veterans with schizophrenia, schizoaffective, or bipolar disorders were identified in VISN 4 facilities from 10/1/2010 to 9/30/2012. Differences between patients with and without metabolic syndrome were compared using t-tests, Chi square tests and multivariate logistic regressions. Among 10,132 veterans with mental illness, 48.8% had metabolic syndrome. Multivariate logistic regression analysis confirmed that patients with metabolic syndrome were significantly more likely to be older, male, African-American, married, and receiving disability pensions but less likely to be homeless. They were more likely to receive antipsychotics, antidepressants, or anticonvulsants. Bivariate cross-sectional analysis revealed that patients with metabolic syndrome had higher rates of coronary artery disease, cerebrovascular disease, and mortality, and that metabolic syndrome was more often associated with emergency visits and psychiatric or medical hospitalizations. Demographics, socioeconomic status and medications are independent predictors of metabolic syndrome and should be considered in broader screening of risk factors in order to provide preventive interventions for metabolic syndrome.
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Funding
This work was funded by Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc., and also supported in part by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research Development with resources and the use of facilities at the Corporal Michael J. Crescenz Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Research funding received from Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. (Drs. Caroff and Campbell); Consultant to Neurocrine Biosciences and Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries (Dr. Caroff). Drs. Ng-Mak, Rajagopalan, and Loebel are employees of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Drs. Leong and Berkowitz report no financial or other relationship relevant to the subject of this article. Dr. Chuang was an employee of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, Inc. at the time of manuscript development and write-up. The authors who were employees of Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc. and of the Veterans Health Administration, respectively, certify responsibility for the manuscript and were involved in data collection, analysis, and the final decision to publish study results. The sponsors reviewed the manuscript prior to submission, but publication of study results was not contingent on either sponsor’s approval or censorship of the manuscript. The manuscript has not been published previously and is not being submitted or considered elsewhere for publication.
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Caroff, S.N., Leong, S.H., Ng-Mak, D. et al. Socioeconomic Disparities and Metabolic Risk in Veterans with Serious Mental Illness. Community Ment Health J 54, 725–734 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-017-0215-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10597-017-0215-7