Atypical antipsychotics have become widely accepted as the first-line standard of care in the treatment of psychotic disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, which occur in ethnically and racially diverse patients. Accumulating data indicate that ethnicity factors may impact the efficacy and safety of atypical antipsychotics. Given the increasingly heterogeneous ethnic and racial composition of the United States, it is important for practicing clinicians to understand how race and ethnicity may influence the pharmacotherapeutic use of atypical antipsychotics.

The three articles in this supplement to CNS Spectrums, address how race and ethnicity may influence the efficacy, safety, tolerability, and dosing of atypical antipsychotics in today’s heterogeneous patient population.

L. DiAnne Bradford, PhD, reviews the most recent advances in ethnopharmacology and how gender, race, and ethnicity can influence, through metabolic biotransformation, the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of atypical antipsychotics. Dr. Bradford will also review how antipsychotic-related adverse events may be associated with the differences in oxidative enzyme activity across ethnic and racial groups and how these factors should be given careful consideration in the management of patients of different ethnic/genetic profiles.

David C. Henderson, MD, examines the emerging data that suggest metabolic differences among various racial and ethnic groups may predispose patients to serious medical complications, such as obesity, dyslipidemia, and diabetes mellitus. Dr. Henderson discusses the impact of these racial/ethnic metabolic differences when clinicians are prescribing atypical antipsychotics and also compares the risks of metabolic issues associated with specific agents within the class of atypical antipsychotics.