Control of antipsychotic-induced weight gain in schizophrenic patients with topiramate (10/01/05)

Patients, for instance those with schizophrenia, who are treated with atypical antipsychotic drugs often gain excess weight as a result of the treatment. Some patients even gain so much weight that they risk becoming obese. Since obesity, among other risks, is associated with increased morbidity and obese patients are expected to live shorter in average, this weight gain in could be critical. Topiramate is a fairly new medication that normally is used to prevent epileptic seizures and other form of brain cell damage. But it also stimulates bodyweight loss in healthy but obese subjects, patients with bipolar disorder, and patients with eating disorders. There are however very few reports about whether topiramate is also as effective as a weight management controller in schizophrenic patients.

In a Taiwanese study recently, the researchers investigated three patients with schizophrenia whose bodyweight had increased as a result of treatment with atypical antipsychotic medications. To prevent this body weight increase and make them lose weight, the patients were treated topiramate. The effects were then evaluated and the results documented.

The results from the study show that all three patients that were observed in the study decreased their bodyweight when treated with topiramate, without aggravation of their psychotic symptoms.

Just like in healthy obese subjects, patients with bipolar disorder, and patients with eating disorders, topiramate is an effective body weight controller that can be used to prevent obesity in schizophrenic patients who are treated with antipsychotic medications.

Lin YH, Liu CY, Hsiao MC. Management of atypical antipsychotic-induced weight gain in schizophrenic patients with topiramate. Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 2005 Oct;59(5):613-5.
ABSTRACT