A reminder for everyone to get regular (yearly) screenings for diabetes. Ask your doctor for this.
Despite guidelines, diabetes screening rates are low among adults with severe mental illness who take antipsychotic medications, researchers find.
In a new California study, fewer than one-third of mental health patients were screened for type 2 diabetes, despite an elevated risk for the disorder, the researchers reported in the Nov. 9 online edition of the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.
Treatment with antipsychotic drugs contributes to this risk, the researchers explained. This class of drugs includes clozapine (Clozaril), olanzapine (Zyprexa) and risperidone (Risperdal), among others. Anyone taking them should undergo diabetes screening every year, the American Diabetes Association says.
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