Which monitoring is recommended for patients on second-generation antipsychotics during exercise?

• A. Only heart rate during workouts.
• B. Cholesterol only.
• C. Monitor blood glucose, blood pressure, and lipid profiles.
• D. No medical monitoring required.

Answer: (C)

Second-generation antipsychotics carry metabolic risks such as weight gain, impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes, and lipid abnormalities. When a patient exercises, these factors influence how the body responds to activity and can reveal or worsen cardiometabolic risk. Monitoring blood glucose helps catch rising glucose levels or diabetes risk; tracking blood pressure during activity detects hypertensive responses or orthostatic changes; and checking lipid profiles provides a full picture of cardiovascular risk linked to the medication. Limiting monitoring to heart rate misses these important metabolic and vascular concerns, and doing no monitoring at all is unsafe. So the recommended approach is to monitor blood glucose, blood pressure, and lipid profiles.