Metformin effective for prevention of clozapine-induced weight gain: study

Written By : Dr. Shravani Dali |Medically Reviewed By : Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli Published On 2022-06-29T10:45:09+05:30 | Updated On 29 Jun 2022 10:50 AM IST

Metformin is effective for the prevention of clozapine-induced weight gain according to a recent study published in the Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica

Clozapine is presently the sole antipsychotic with an indication for treatment-resistant Schizophrenia but is associated with significant weight gain and other metabolic aberrations. This retrospective chart review aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of adjunctive metformin in preventing clozapine-induced weight gain.

They conducted a retrospective chart review of patients newly initiated on clozapine at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada, from November 2014 to April 2021. Our primary outcome was body weight at 6 and 12 months after clozapine initiation. Other metabolic parameters served as secondary outcomes.

Results

Among 396 patients (males: 71.5%, mean age: 42.8 years) initiated on clozapine, 69 were on metformin or prescribed it ≤3 months after clozapine initiation.
The clozapine+metformin group demonstrated less weight gain compared with the clozapine-only group at 6 months and 12 months after clozapine initiation
Adaptive changes were also observed for fasting glucose and triglycerides in the clozapine+metformin group compared with clozapine only.

In this large retrospective naturalistic cohort study, co-prescription of clozapine and metformin was associated with less weight gain and related metabolic dysfunction at 6 and 12 months after initiation versus clozapine alone. These findings provide evidence for the effectiveness of metformin in preventing clozapine-induced weight gain; larger randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm these results.

Reference:

Stogios N, Maksyutynska K, Navagnanavel J, et al. Metformin for the prevention of clozapine-induced weight gain: A retrospective naturalistic cohort study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica.

DOI: 10.1111/acps.13462.

Keywords:

Stogios N, Maksyutynska K, Navagnanavel J, Metformin, prevention, clozapine, induced, weight, gain, retrospective, naturalistic, cohort, study, Acta, Psychiatrica, Scandinavica, Nicolette Stogios,Kateryna Maksyutynska,Janani Navagnanavel,Marcos Sanches,Valerie Powell,Philip Gerretsen,Ariel Graff-Guerrero,Araba F. Chintoh,George Foussias,Gary Remington,Margaret K. Hahn,Sri Mahavir Agarwal

Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavicaclozapine-induced weight gainMetformin

Source : Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica

Dr. Shravani Dali

Dr. Shravani Dali has completed her BDS from Pravara institute of medical sciences, loni. Following which she extensively worked in the healthcare sector for 2+ years. She has been actively involved in writing blogs in field of health and wellness. Currently she is pursuing her Masters of public health-health administration from Tata institute of social sciences. She can be contacted at editorial@medicaldialogues.in.

Dr. Kamal Kant Kohli

Dr Kamal Kant Kohli-MBBS, DTCD- a chest specialist with more than 30 years of practice and a flair for writing clinical articles, Dr Kamal Kant Kohli joined Medical Dialogues as a Chief Editor of Medical News. Besides writing articles, as an editor, he proofreads and verifies all the medical content published on Medical Dialogues including those coming from journals, studies,medical conferences,guidelines etc. Email: drkohli@medicaldialogues.in. Contact no. 011-43720751