BACKGROUND: Despite a better overall tolerance compared to classical antipsychotics, atypical antipsychotics (AP) are strongly related to side effects, such as metabolic disorders.
OBJECTIVES: To analyze the weight gain-related side-effects of psychotropic drugs and their consequences on meta- bolic complications in a large Swiss cohort of psychiatric patients (n = 561).
METHODS: A cross-sectional observational study (n = 188) was performed in an out-patient psychiatric division with patients having received for more than 12 months the following drugs: clozapine, olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, lithium, amisulpride, aripiprazole and/or valproate. Another longitudinal study consisted of a follow up of patients being prescribed the same drugs for up to 1 year (n = 373). Prevalence of BMI and weight gain was calculated for each group.
RESULTS: For the cross-sectional study, the mean age was 41 years (range: 18–69). Weight gain (‡10% of initial weight) following drug treatment was reported in 43% of these patients. A high prevalence of overweight (BMI: 25– 30) or obesity (BMI > 30) was found in this cohort (63%). For the longitudinal study, the mean age was 48 years (range: 12–96). An increase in the overweight or obesity prevalence was found during treatment in adults (33%, 35%, 46% and 57%, before, after one, 3 and 12 months of treatment, respectively) and in children (21%, 29%, 31% and 50%, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: High prevalence of overweight or obesity was found in an outpatient psychiatric population and confirms drug-induced weight gain complications during long-term treatment. Results on other clinical factors of the metabolic syndrome as well as on analyses of genetic factors linked to obesity and metabolic syndrome will also be shown. This study supports the recently published recommendations to monitor metabolic side effects during treatment with atypical antipsychotics and/or mood stabilizers. This could help to identify patients with special health care management requirements.
