The Relationship of Ten-Year Cardiovascular Disease Risk and Clinical Features in Patients with Schizophrenia.

Introduction: Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) are the one of the most important causes of mortality in patients with schizophrenia. This study aimed to investigate ten-year CVD risk and its relationship with clinical features in patients with schizophrenia.

Methods: The sample of the study consisted of 208 patients with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) was administered to each patient to assess symptom severity of schizophrenia. The 10-year CVD risk of the participants was calculated with the QRISK*3 model.

Results: 10-year CVD risk of the patients was found to be 7.4%. The mean healthy heart age (QAGE) of the patients was 53.1. Duration of disease, body mass index (BMI), and negative symptoms severity was positively correlated with 10-year CVD risk in patients with schizophrenia (r=0.57, r=0.37, and r=0.49, respectively). Duration of disease, BMI, and severity of negative symptoms predicted a 10-year CVD risk in patients with schizophrenia (t=4.349 and p<0.001; t=2.108 and p=0.037; t=2.836 and p=0.006 respectively).

Conclusion: The findings of this study have shown that duration of disease, negative symptoms, and BMI may be important risk factors for increased CVD risk in patients with schizophrenia.