Abstract

Background: Obesity is a major complication of antipsychotic drugs. This study evaluated the effect of long-term exercise on drug-induced obesity in schizophrenic patients.
Methods: This study involved 59 in-patients diagnosed of schizophrenia and randomized into exercise group (EG) and control group (CG). The EG participated in a 24-week exercise protocol (football, aerobic, bicycle ergometer and tread-mill) at three sessions per week. Their Waist-Hip-Ratio (WHR), Body-Mass-Index (BMI), Triceps-Skin-Fold (TSF), Subscapular-Skin-Fold (SUBSF), Suprascapular-Skin-Fold (SUPSF) and Front-Thigh-Skin-Fold (FTSF) were measured at baseline and at 12-week and 24-week following the International Standard for Anthropometric Measurements (ISAM). Data was analysed using Analysis of Variance and McNemars test.
Results: Mean age of the EG and CG were 37.9 ± 7.4 and 38.4 ± 10.2 respectively. The BMI, TSF, WHR, SUBSF, SUPSF and FTSF values in the EG significantly reduced (p=0.00) at baseline (30.4 ± 3.3, 29.9 ± 9.8, 0.85 ± 0.06, 25.3 ± 7.1, 18.1 ± 6.4, and 43.5 ± 7.1) through 24-week (26.2 ± 4.0, 22.2 ± 4.2, 0.79 ± 0.21, 20.2 ± 0.6, 14.2 ± 0.3 and 30.3 ± 1.2) exercise programme. The EG had significantly lower (p=0.00) values than the CG at 12-week in BMI (29.0±3.5 versus 31.9 ± 5.4), TSF (26.6 ± 11.7 versus 28.2 ± 8.8), WHR (0.82 ± 0.16 versus 1.28 ± 1.8), SUBSF (24.2 ± 7.0 versus 30.7 ± 11.8), SUPSF (17.2 ± 6.7 versus 21.8 ± 9.6), and FTSF (34.2 ± 17.8 versus 40.5 ± 19.7) and at 24 week (BMI: 26.2 ± 4.0 versus 33.2 ± 5.3, TSF: 22.2 ± 4.2 versus 30.2 ± 5.3, WHR: 0.79 ± 0.21 versus 1.29 ± 1.02, SUBSF: 20.2 ± 0.6 versus 31.1 ± 4.2, SUPSF: 14.2 ± 0.3 versus 28.2 ± 6.4, and FTSF: 30.3 ± 1.2 versus 43.1 ± 7.4) post-intervention.
Conclusions: Long-term exercise is effective in reducing drug-induced obesity in schizophrenic patients and is useful for both prevention and management of obesity-induced complications in mentally ill individuals.

Keywords: Schizophrenia; Exercise; Obesity; Pharmacotherapy