Weight Changes in Patients Treated with Antipsychotics: one Year Observational Study

Abstract

The risk of inducing weight gain is heterogeneous among antipsychotics. The aim of the present study was to compare the weight changes in patients treated with haloperidol, olanzapine, risperidone, quetiapine, and aripiprazole over a one-year follow-up. The study was designed as a one-year prospective observational study on 131 patients with schizophrenia or related disorders treated with one of the mentioned antipsychotics. Weight changes were significantly higher at 12 months after inclusion in the group treated with olanzapine than in the groups treated with haloperidol, risperidone, and aripiprazole. The variability of data within individual antipsychotic groups reinforces the need to identify the factors determining it, beyond the antipsychotic, through further studies.