A prospective study of monitoring practices for metabolic disease in antipsychotic-treated community psychiatric patients.

Background: Patients with severe mental illness are at increased risk for metabolic and cardiovascular disease. A number of recent guidelines and consensus statements recommend stringent monitoring of metabolic function in individuals receiving antipsychotic drugs.

Methods: We conducted a prospective cohort study of 106 community-treated psychiatric patients from across the diagnostic spectrum from the Northeast of England to investigate changes in metabolic status and monitoring practices for metabolic and cardiovascular disease.