Hyperglycemic adverse events following antipsychotic drug administration in spontaneous adverse event reports

Short report

Yamato Kato¹, Ryogo Umetsu¹, Junko Abe¹², Natsumi Ueda¹, Yoko Nakayama¹, Yasutomi Kinosada³ and Mitsuhiro Nakamura^1*

• *
  Corresponding author: Mitsuhiro Nakamura [email protected]

Author Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Drug Informatics, Gifu Pharmaceutical University, 1-25-4, Daigaku-Nishi, Gifu 501-1196, Japan

² Medical Database Co., LTD, 3-11-10, Higashi, Sibuya Ward, Tokyo 150-0011, Japan

³ Department of Biomedical Informatics, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu 501-1196, Japan

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Journal of Pharmaceutical Health Care and Sciences 2015, 1:15 
doi:10.1186/s40780-015-0015-6

Published: 16 April 2015

Abstract (provisional)

Background Antipsychotics are potent dopamine antagonists used to treat schizophrenia
and bipolar disorder. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between
antipsychotic drugs and adverse hyperglycemic events using the FDA Adverse Event Reporting
System (FAERS) database. In particular, we focused on adverse hyperglycemic events
associated with atypical antipsychotic use, which are major concerns. Findings We
analyzed reports of adverse hyperglycemic events associated with 26 antipsychotic
drugs in the FAERS database from January 2004 to March 2013. The Standardized Medical
Dictionary for Regulatory Activities Queries (SMQ) preferred terms (PTs) was used
to identify adverse hyperglycemic events. The number of adverse hyperglycemic reports
for the top eight antipsychotic drugs, quetiapine, olanzapine, risperidone, aripiprazole,
haloperidol, clozapine, prochlorperazine, and chlorpromazine was 12,471 (28.9%), 8,423
(37.9%), 5,968 (27.0%), 4,045 (23.7%), 3,445 (31.5%), 2,614 (14.3%), 1,800 (19.8%),
and 1,003 (35.7%), respectively. The reporting ratio increased with co-administration
of multiple antipsychotic drugs. For example, adverse hyperglycemic events represented
21.6% of reports for quetiapine monotherapy, 39.9% for two-drug polypharmacy, and
66.3% for three-drug polypharmacy. Conclusion Antipsychotic drug polypharmacy may
influence signal strength, and may be associated with hyperglycemia. After considering
the causality restraints of the current analysis, further robust epidemiological studies
are recommended.