ABSTRACT
The metabolic effects of antipsychotic drugs (APs) have become a focus of clinical attention influencing the choice and use of AP (1). With conventional antipsychotic drugs (CAPs), the focus of tolerability and safety concerns had been with neurological side effects such as extrapyramidal symptoms (EPS) and tardive dyskinesia (TD). Other tolerability and safety issues, notably diabetes mellitus (DM), weight gain, and dyslipidemia received less attention with CAPs, even though their occurrence had been reported with them. In contrast, the atypical antipsychotic drugs (AAPs) are associated with a much lower burden of movement disorders than CAPs, and consequently the focus has shifted to an examination of these metabolic issues as well as discussion concerning the most appropriate investigations and level of monitoring required with the use of AAPs in psychiatric populations (2,3).
