Abnormalities in peripheral glucose regulation and type 2 diabetes can occur more commonly in
individuals with schizophrenia than in healthy subjects or in other psychiatric conditions.
Antipsychotic treatment may contribute significantly to abnormalities in glucose regulation.
Hyperglycemia can contribute to long-term cardiovascular disease risk that may already be
increased in patients with schizophrenia due to higher rates of smoking, sedentary life
style, obesity and under-treated hypertension and dyslipidemia. This project will
characterize the effects on glucose control of the two most commonly prescribed newer
antipsychotic medications, risperidone and olanzapine, in patients with schizophrenia.
This proposal specifically hypothesizes that olanzapine treatment will be associated with
decreases in insulin sensitivity (SI), without effects on insulin secretion.
Treatment-related effects on glucose effectiveness (SG) will be explored.