Improving Metabolic Monitoring for Children Prescribed Second-Generation Antipsychotics

The number of children taking second-generation antipsychotics (SGA) is increasing. While SGAs produce fewer neurological side effects, the metabolic side effects of SGAs increase the risk for future cardiometabolic disease. In 2011, the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry endorsed following guidelines established in 2004 recommending that people taking SGAs receive regular metabolic screening including waist circumference measurement, fasting blood glucose, and fasting lipids.