Schizophrenia: How Does Diabetes Impact Prevalence?

The prevalence of schizophrenia is higher in patients with type 2 diabetes, according to the results of a recent study.

Using National Health Insurance claims data from patients with schizophrenia and type 2 diabetes in Taiwan, researchers sought to investigate the prevalence and characteristics of schizophrenia in this patient population.

They found that, compared with the general population, those with schizophrenia and diabetes were more likely to have higher Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) scores and multiple comorbidities. Schizophrenia was significantly more common in patients with diabetes than in the general population and increased from 0.64% to 0.85% from 2000 to 2010. Prevalence among patients with type 2 diabetes was higher among those less than 60 years old and those with CCI > 2.

“Our study found the prevalence of schizophrenia is higher in patients with T2DM than in the GP, particularly those with earlier ages less than 60 years old. Public health initiatives are necessary to prevent and treat schizophrenia in patients with T2DM, specifically for those with the aforementioned and premature death risk,” they concluded.

—Michael Potts

Huang CJ, Hsieh HM, Tu, HP, et al. Schizophrenia in type 2 diabetes mellitus: Prevalence and clinical characteristics [published online September 4, 2018]. Eur Psychiatry. doi: 10.1016/j.eurpsy.2018.08.002.