Wu, CarrieChiang, MathewNatarajan, RadhikaFusaro-Davis, MarieCimpeanu, CezarLiu, MarkHarrington, Amy L.Fan, Xiaoduo2022-08-232022-08-232019-02-012019-08-01<p>Asian J Psychiatr. 2019 Feb;40:15-17. doi: 10.1016/j.ajp.2019.01.005. Epub 2019 Jan 17. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajp.2019.01.005">Link to article on publisher's site</a></p>1876-2018 (Linking)10.1016/j.ajp.2019.01.00530673623https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14038/46303<p>Carrie Wu participated in this study as a medical student in the Senior Scholars research program at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.</p>Dear Editor, Individuals diagnosed with a severe mental illness (SMI) hold a significantly increased risk of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease (Teasdale et al., 2017; Gurusamy et al., 2018). Elevated cardiovascular risk for individuals diagnosed with SMI may be attributable to numerous factors, prominently including a cluster of clinical features that define the metabolic syndrome (MetS): abdominal adiposity, atherogenic dyslipidemia, hypertension, and impaired fasting glucose/ diabetes (Kucerova et al., 2015). The incidence rate of MetS and obesity among patients diagnosed with schizophrenia has been estimated to be as high as 54% and 40–50% respectively, twice that observed in the general population (Gurusamy et al., 2018;Fan et al., 2010).en-USBehavior and Behavior MechanismsMental and Social HealthPsychiatryPsychiatry and PsychologyPublic Health Education and PromotionLetter to the Editorhttps://escholarship.umassmed.edu/psych_pp/83915038708psych_pp/839