Patients with schizophrenia are at higher risk for cardiometabolic abnormalities, such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, obesity, and metabolic syndrome; current antipsychotics, which directly act on D2 receptors to modulate dopamine, may increase these risks.

Recent advances in the understanding of the pathophysiology of schizophrenia, including the role of numerous nondopaminergic neurotransmitters, has guided discovery of novel treatments that do not directly target dopamine receptors and that also minimize cardiometabolic burden for these patients.

Novel medications are beginning to emerge that have the propensity to considerably advance the treatment of schizophrenia and reduce patients’ cardiometabolic burden.