Metformin and Counseling Retard Drug-Induced Weight Gain in Schizophrenia

For patients with schizophrenia taking antipsychotics, metformin or lifestyle counseling, or both combined, helps steer clear of drug-induced weight gain and insulin resistance, found investigators here.

In a randomized 12-week trial of 128 adults with schizophrenia, age 18 to 49, who had gained more than 10% of their pre-antipsychotic weight, metformin alone was more effective than lifestyle intervention alone, found Jing-Ping Zhao, M.D., Ph.D., and colleagues at the Second Xiangya Hospital here.

But a combined approach produced the better results, the research team reported in the Jan. 9/16 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Participants taking antipsychotic medications were randomized to one of four groups: 12 weeks of placebo, 750 mg/day of metformin alone, 750 mg/day of metformin with lifestyle intervention, or lifestyle intervention alone.

The lifestyle interventions included counseling and dietary and exercise programs, the researchers reported. Caregivers reported participants' food intake and exercise levels, the authors said.

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Metformin slows antipsychotic drug weight gain

Metformin safely and effectively abrogates weight gain and adverse metabolic changes that occur with atypical antipsychotic drug therapy in children, a new study shows.

"Weight gain was shown recently to be the most important factor leading to noncompliance with these very effective medications," study leader Dr. David J. Klein, from Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Ohio, told Reuters Health.

Atypical antipsychotics generally have fewer side effects than some of the older antipsychotic drugs. Some of the drugs in this newer class of antipsychotics commonly prescribed include risperidone, sold as Risperdal; quetiapine, sold as Seroquel; and olanzapine, sold as Zyprexa.

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Primary text: American Journal of Psychiatry, December 2006