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.
Keywords: Cardiovascular disease, negative symptoms, positive
symptoms, QRISK*3, schizophrenia