Patients' characteristics
Our sample consisted of thirty eight women. Ninenteen were included in the Group 1 and ninenteen in the Group 2.
Age and duration of illness were comparable between the two groups (Table 1).
Table 1  Diagnosis, duration of illness, psychoactive treatment before recruitment and age of patients  Schizoaf: Schizoaffective Disorder; Schiz: Schizophrenia; Bip Dis: Bipolar Disorder; An Nervosa: norexia Nervosa; Alc Abuse: Alcohol Abuse yr: years  Data on diagnosis and previous pharmacological treatment of patients are reported in Table 1.
Among the nineteen patients in Group 1, five were treated with haloperidol, five with olanzapine, five with risperidone and four with clozapine; among the nineteen patients of group 2, five started haloperidol, eight olanzapine, four risperidone and two quetiapine. Antidepressant used were escitalopram (two patients), citalopram (three patients), mirtazapine (four patients), paroxetine (one patients), sertraline (two), fluvoxamine (one patient), venlafaxine (three patients), clomipramine (two patients). Three patients started also lithium treatment.
The mean antipsychotic doses, equivalent doses and mean plasmatic levels are reported in Table 2 (See Additional file 1 ). Potassium and magnesium serum levels were always within the normal range for all subjects.