Page 67 - JCBP-1-2

Journal of Clinical and
Basic Psychosomatics Prevalence of skin disorders in patients with schizophrenia

may also contribute to the manifestation of skin disorders. absence of a skin disorder. All dermatological diagnoses
Finally, many skin disorders in schizophrenia may be were recorded and categorized for the purposes of
iatrogenic, as observed in the dermatological consequences analysis. Continuous variables were analyzed using means
associated with the use of drugs such as chlorpromazine and standard deviations, with independent samples
and olanzapine [5,6] . The interface between schizophrenia, t-test applied, while discrete variables were reported as
in particular, and skin disorders is important as both frequencies and compared using the Chi-square test.
are chronic disorders. Patients with schizophrenia have Patients who declined participation or exhibited severe
higher all-cause mortality, and skin disorders may increase active psychopathology were excluded from the study.
the risk. In addition, skin disorders can lead to greater
disability and impairment in quality of life. 3. Results
There is a high prevalence of non-communicable A total of 102 participants (66 males and 36 females) were
diseases and associated risk factors among patients with evaluated. The sociodemographic and clinical profiles
schizophrenia . In a study on inpatients with psychiatric of the participants are presented in Table 1. The most
[7]
disorders, 69% were found to have some form of skin commonly prescribed antipsychotics was olanzapine in
disorder . Similar results were reported in two Indian both males and females (28 and 16 patients, respectively),
[8]
studies [9,10] , as well as a study conducted in Egypt that followed by risperidone (18 and 7 patients, respectively).
showed a high prevalence of skin disorders in psychiatric Thus, 67.64% of the study population were on stable doses
patients . However, these studies were conducted in of these two antipsychotics. In addition, nine male and
[11]
patients with various psychiatric disorders and were not four female patients were prescribed typical antipsychotics
exclusive to patients with schizophrenia. Consequently, (12.74%). Six patients were aware of their hypertension
studies specifically focusing on patients with schizophrenia and were receiving treatment for it.
are limited. A Taiwanese study examining 337 patients with The prevalence of obesity (body mass index ≥25) was
schizophrenia reported a prevalence rate of approximately 54.90% (n = 56 [male = 32, female = 24]) in the study
50% for at least one skin disorder . The literature review population. The prevalence of obesity was observed to
[12]
shows that studies have primarily focused on severely ill be 56.81% among patients prescribed olanzapine, 48.00%
inpatients with schizophrenia. Therefore, the profile of skin
disorders in community-living patients with schizophrenia among those prescribed risperidone, 85.71% among those
prescribed clozapine, and 83.33% among patients on
may differ.
injectables. However, no statistically significant difference
The present study aimed to assess the prevalence of skin was found in the prevalence of obesity among patients
disorders in ambulatory community-living adult patients prescribed different antipsychotics (P = 0.23).
with schizophrenia.
A majority of patients were considered to be normal
2. Materials and methods or borderline mentally ill at the time of assessment
(51 males and 29 females). Furthermore, 60 males and
The study protocol was approved by the ethics committee 32 females were considered to be very much improved
of the Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and or much improved as a result of drug treatment, as per
Research. Adult patients of any gender diagnosed with the clinical global impression . The prevalence of any
[14]
International Classification of Diseases-10 schizophrenia dermatological finding was 69.60% (n = 72 [male = 47,
who visited the outpatient clinic of the Department of female = 25], P = 0.85), and 45 patients (63.38% of those
Psychiatry of a tertiary hospital in North India were with dermatological diagnosis) had more than one
invited to participate in the study. Eligible participants dermatological condition. A total of 136 diagnoses were
had to meet the following criteria: Being clinically stable, made, encompassing 71 different diagnoses. All of the
living in the community, and receiving stable doses of diagnoses were analyzed. Table 2 presents the most
antipsychotic medications (at least 3 months preceding common dermatological diagnoses in the participants (>1
the evaluation for the study). The sociodemographic mention). Table 3 highlights the most common categories
information, anthropometric details, diastolic and systolic of diagnoses.
blood pressure readings , clinical global impression
[13]
scores , and clinical profiles of patients who consented There was no statistically significant difference
[14]
were recorded. Hypertension was defined as per norms observed between those with dermatoses and those
(systolic ≥140 mmHg and/or diastolic ≥90 mmHg) . without dermatoses with regards to gender (P = 0.81),
[15]
Subsequently, they were examined by a dermatologist in obesity (P = 0.83), clinical state (P = 0.32), or improvement
the same hospital to diagnose the presence and type or due to psychotropic drugs (P = 0.51).

Volume 1 Issue 2 (2023) 2 https://doi.org/10.36922/jcbp.1001