Relationship Between Antipsychotic Use and HbgA1c Levels in a Retrospective Chart Review of an Adult Autism Clinic Patient Population
David Beversdorf1, Gregory Cejas2, Alisha Steigerwald3, Malori Chrisman1, Tanvi Yadlapalli1
1University of Missouri, 2Washington University-St Louis, 3Harvard Medical School
Objective:
Our purpose was to examine the relationship between age and Hemoglobin A1c (HbgA1c) in adults with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with and without antipsychotic exposure.
Background:
Individuals with ASD experience a high prevalence of metabolic effects. Antipsychotics are commonly prescribed for adults with ASD. Our previous study found increases in cholesterol with age in an adult ASD population for both individuals taking antipsychotics and those not taking antipsychotics. The current study examined this relationship for HbgA1c.
Design/Methods:
We retrospectively analyzed 279 charts from patients with ASD, ages 16-62 (mean = 27.97, SD = 8.89, 18.3 % female). Data abstracted included demographic information, medications taken, and metabolic comorbidities, including recent values for HbgA1c. Participants were separated into two groups based on antipsychotic use. Between-group differences were calculated for HbgA1c. Lastly, binary correlations were calculated for age and HbgA1c.
Results:
No significant difference was found between groups for HbgA1c levels (t(204)=0.09, p=0.93). A significant correlation was found between age and HbgA1c for patients not taking antipsychotics (r=0.34, p=0.000065). This correlation did not reach significance for those that were taking antipsychotics (r=0.16, p=0.18).
Conclusions:
Despite approximately one in three patients in this study taking an antipsychotic medication, no significant differences in HbgA1c were found between those taking or not taking antipsychotics. Furthermore, while HbgA1c increased with age for those not taking antipsychotics, this relationship did not reach significance for those on antipsychotics. The smaller number of individuals taking antipsychotics may have limited our ability to detect a significant result in this group, so further study is needed with larger samples. However, this finding suggests the need to track HbgA1c in autism regardless of medication history. Future research is needed to better understand the long-term effects of antipsychotics on adults with ASD, and metabolic monitoring in those not on antipsychotics, including risk for diabetes.
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