Lifestyle factors may be linked to symptoms of metabolic syndrome in people at risk for psychosis

A recent article by Cordes and colleagues reported the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in individuals at clinical-high risk of psychosis (CHR) (Cordes et al. 2017). The authors add to the growing evidence that physical health abnormalities may occur even prior to the onset of psychosis. In their study, the CHR group had higher rates of individual MetS criteria than a general population sample; specifically higher blood pressure, waist circumference, fasting blood glucose and reduced HDL concentration. This carries important clinical implications, and strengthens our recommendation that physical health should be monitored in this group (Carney et al. 2015).