Prevalence of Diabetes Mellitus among Psychotropic Drug Naive Patients with Psychiatric Disorders at Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital Barnawa, Kaduna

Background: It has been established that diabetes mellitus occurs frequently among psychiatric patients; however, little is known about diabetes mellitus among psychotropic drug naive patients with psychiatric disorders in Nigeria.

Objectives: This is to determine the prevalence and socio-demographic correlates of diabetes mellitus among psychiatric patients in Kaduna, Northern Nigeria.

Method: This study is a case control study involving 250 psychotropic drug naive patients who attended the Assessment and Emergency unit of Federal Neuro-psychiatric Hospital, Kaduna, Nigeria for the first time between November 2012 and December 2013 and 250 apparently normal individuals. The fasting blood glucose (FBG) level of both the patients and the apparently normal individuals were measured using enzymatic oxidation method and those whose FBG values were above normal range were repeated one or more times.

Results: The mean ages of the patients and the control individuals were 32.7 (±4.6) and 38.6 (±5.8) years respectively. Thirty-two patients (12.8%) were found to be diabetic compared to the control in which 14 (5.6%) were found to be diabetic (p value < 0.001). Among the 32 patients who were diabetic, 10 (4.0%) were female, 22 (8.8%) were male and 28 (11.2%) patients were within 18 and 60 years old. Seventy-one (28.4%) of the 250 patients (and /or their relatives) did not know their diabetes history compared to the control group whereas 18 (7.2%) individuals did not know their diabetes history.

Conclusion: Diabetes mellitus is more common among psychotropic drug naive psychiatric patients than the general population, highest incidence of diabetes mellitus among mentally-ill patients is found within the ages of 18 and 60 years and one out of about four mentally-ill patients (and/or their relatives) did not know about their sugar level, neither did they know if they do or do not have diabetes in their extended family. These should therefore be borne in mind in patient’s evaluation and management.