Antipsychotics Induced Weight Gain
Weight gain is one of the untoward side effect of antipsychotic medications and the extent of weight gain varies among all antipsychotics. This post will briefly summarize the results of following two studies.
STUDY#1:
Allison et al published this comprehensive research synthesis to estimate and compare the effects of antipsychotics — both the newer ones and the conventional ones — on body weight.
Weight gain was estimated at 10 weeks and antipsychotics were ranked as follows:
| ANTIPSYCHOTICS | MEAN ESTIMATED WEIGHT CHANGE AT 10 WEEKS |
CLOZAPINE |
3.99 Kg |
OLANZAPINE |
3.51 Kg |
THIORIDAZINE |
3.49 Kg |
CHLORPROMAZINE |
2.10 Kg |
RISPERIDONE |
2.00 Kg |
HALOPERIDOL |
0.48 Kg |
FLUPHENAZINE |
0.43 Kg |
ZIPRASIDONE |
0.04 Kg |
MOLINDONE |
-0.81 Kg |
Insufficient data were available to evaluate quetiapine at 10 weeks.
STUDY#2:
This second study was meta-analysis of clinical trials of antipsychotics that reported weight change.
ANTIPSYCHOTICS RELATEDMEAN ESTIMATED WEIGHT CHANGE (Kg) <6 WEEKS(FROM HIGH TO LOW) |
CLOZAPINE |
OLANZAPINE |
CHLORPROMAZINE |
RISPERIDONE |
QUETIAPINE |
ASENAPINE |
PALIPERIDONE |
ZIPRASIDONE |
HALOPERIDOL |
ARIPIPRAZOLE |
| AMISULPRIDE |
SOURCE:
- Am J Psychiatry 1999; 156:1686–1696.
- PLoS One. 2014 Apr 24;9(4):e94112.
Please do post your questions or comments below.
Dr. Harvinder Singh, M.D. (Admin)
Enroll in our online course to have access to all important clinically relevant psychiatry topics in one place.
In practice there is significant weight gain with Amisulpiride too