Thursday, June 12, 2008

ADA: Metabolic Monitoring Guidelines for Antipsychotics Largely Unheeded

Recommendations for lipid and glucose monitoring for patients on atypical antipsychotic drugs have made scarcely a dent on clinical practice, researchers found.

Metabolic screening and monitoring rates rose by 5% or less since 2004, when the FDA warned of increased diabetes and cardiovascular risk with antipsychotic medications, according to two separate analyses of large insurance claim databases reported here at the American Diabetes Association meeting.

Only about 20% of patients on second-generation antipsychotics received recommended glucose monitoring and just 10% had lipids monitored, reported Dan W. Haupt, M.D., of Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues in one of the studies.

Changes in screening rates were no better than, and in some cases worse, for patients starting antipsychotics than for other commercially-insured patients, found Elaine Morrato, Dr.P.H., M.P.H., of the University of Colorado in Denver, and colleagues in the other study.

READ MORE @ MEDPAGE TODAY