Metabolic Syndrome: Epidemiology and Consequences

Psychiatry is constantly faced with challenges related to the medical status of its patients and comorbideffects of pharmacologic treatment for psychiatric disorders. Other articles in this supplementreview how obesity, diabetes, and dyslipidemia play a role in the treatment of schizophrenia, but theseissues are by no means limited to schizophrenia. As the population of the United States becomes moreobese and sedentary over time, risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes are increasingin prevalence and affect the treatment of any psychiatric condition. As our understanding of howmetabolic factors contribute to disease grows, it has become clear that a clustering of individualdysmetabolic factors, now known as metabolic syndrome, can contribute to significant morbidity andmortality and should be accounted for in the treatment of psychiatric conditions.