Psychiatric disorders linked to increased risk of T2D among young adults

Multiple psychiatric disorders, especially schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, appear to put young adults at increased risk of type 2 diabetes (T2D), as reported in a study.

For the study, researchers used data from the South Korean National Health Insurance Service, representing 97 percent of the South Korean population. A total of 6,457,991 young adults (mean age 30.74 years, 59.18 percent men) were included.

Of the participants, 658,430 had psychiatric disorders including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depressive disorder, anxiety disorder, and sleep disorder. Over a follow-up of 7.59 years, 122,603 participants received a T2D diagnosis.

Of note, the cumulative incidence of T2D was significantly higher among participants with vs without psychiatric disorders (2.89 vs 2.56 per 1,000 person-years; log-rank test, p<0.001). Multivariable regression analysis showed that the risk of T2D incidence was 20-percent greater for participants with vs without a diagnosis of any psychiatric disorder (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.20, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.17–1.22).

The risk increase was especially high for participants with schizophrenia (adjusted HR, 2.04, 95 percent CI, 1.83–2.28) and those with bipolar disorder (adjusted HR, 1.91, 95 percent CI, 1.73–2.12) than for those with depressive disorder (adjusted HR, 1.24, 95 percent CI, 1.20–1.28), those with anxiety disorder (adjusted HR, 1.13, 95 percent CI, 1.11–1.16), and those with sleep disorder (adjusted HR, 1.31, 95 percent CI, 1.27–1.35).

The findings highlight the importance of early detection of and timely intervention in T2D for young adults with psychiatric disorders.