Antipsychotics and the Risk of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus in Children and Youth

JAMA: August 21, 2013

Importance   The increased prescribing of antipsychotics for children and youth has heightened concerns that this practice increases the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Objective   To compare the risk of type 2 diabetes in children and youth 6 to 24 years of age for recent initiators of antipsychotic drugs vs propensity score–matched controls who had recently initiated another psychotropic medication.

Design, Setting, and Participants   Retrospective cohort study of the Tennessee Medicaid program with 28 858 recent initiators of antipsychotic drugs and 14 429 matched controls. The cohort excluded patients who previously received a diagnosis of diabetes, schizophrenia, or some other condition for which antipsychotics are the only generally recognized therapy.

Main Outcomes and Measures   Newly diagnosed diabetes during follow-up, as identified from diagnoses and diabetes medication prescriptions. Read more