Kids On Zyprexa Gained How Much Weight?
5 CommentsBy Ed Silverman // October 27th, 2009 // 4:38 pm
Anywhere from 10 to 19 pounds on the Lilly pill. A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found kids’ weight zoomed in the first three months on antipsychotics, often leading to elevated cholesterol and triglycerides levels. Weight gain is a known side effect but, as Forbes reminds us, the results are noteworthy because there were far greater increases than seen in many previous trials.
Researchers tracked 272 children between the ages of 4 and 19 who started taking various brand-name antipsychotic drugs for the first time between 2001 and 2007. They found weight gains varied by drug but appeared to be widespread across the entire class. AstraZeneca’s Seroquel, Bristol-Myers Squibb’s Abilify and Johnson & Johnson’s Risperdal caused weight gains of 10 to 13 pounds.
“Weight gain was pervasive even in medications usually considered to be weight neutral in adults,” study leader and psychiatrist Christoph Correll of the Albert Einstein School of Medicine tells Forbes. “The worry is that weight gain sustained over long periods of time can cause adverse outcomes like diabetes and heart attacks and strokes.”
“It is an enormous amount of weight,” child psychiatrist Christopher Varley of the University of Washington School of Medicine, tells the mag. “It might be a time bomb about to go off, I don’t think we know the answer.” After kids go on the drugs, “there is just a strong physiologic drive to eat more that is irresistible.” says Varley, who wrote an accompanying editorial.
The results are certain to add to a growing debate over increased prescribing of the meds to kids who aren’t actually psychotic, but instead are given the pills to treat ADD, sleep problems and aggression. And as Forbes points out, the some of the meds are approved for treating bipolar disorder in kids, but there is controversy about whether standards for such a diagnosis are “too loose.”
Cynic
Tons!
Lisa Van Syckel
Well, I guess this is one way child psychiatrists can get away with exterminating a generation of children!
riv
Ed did you get the study on this? Riv
Ed Silverman
Hi Riv,
Yes, I have access to JAMA, but some complete studies are only available to subscribers, so I can’t link to the entire article, I’m afraid. Instead, I linked to the abstract, which is available to anyone. I apologize for not being able to offer more, but that’s part of the deal as a media person who is given access to the journal.
Regards
ed
Daniel Haszard
How Zyprexa makes you Fat
Study out on Eli Lilly Zyprexa causing diabetes
Anti-Psychotic Drugs (Zyprexa) Change Metabolism
“Based on these findings we concluded that male rats treated with olanzapine experienced an early disruption of energy metabolism.
In the study 18 male rats were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) those receiving the conventional antipsychotic drug haloperidol (HA); (2) those receiving the atypical antipsychotic drug olanzapine (OL); or (3) the control (CO) group which did not receive either drug.
The medicines were given in food for a period of six weeks. Female rats were excluded to eliminate bias in the study since antipsychotic-induced weight gain in female rodents is likely related to an interaction of the drugs with estrogens.
Testing after four weeks found that the concentration of blood sugar (as glucose) was higher in OL rats (0.87 g/l) than in CO rats (0.75 g/l) and the levels increased more rapidly after a glucose meal. Testing six weeks later found fasting blood sugar levels continued to rise in OL rats (1.46 g/l vs. 1.25 g/l in CO rats) while the level of lipids (fats) in the blood was similar for both groups.
Although there was no difference in body weight gain or food intake, the proportion of fat stored in the abdominal cavity was higher in OL rats (1.63%) vs. CO rats (1.44%).
The HA rats did not vary in any way with the control group at any time. They exhibited a lower blood sugar level after a glucose meal and a lower proportion of intraabdominal fat store (1.44%) than OL rats.
Senior study author Dominique Hermier said, “Based on these findings we concluded that male rats treated with olanzapine (Zyprexa) experienced an early disruption of energy metabolism. This was a result of the fat tissue we observed and the impairment in blood sugar regulation which are both associated with metabolic syndrome and subsequent risk of diabetes.”
Source: American Physiological Society
Zyprexa,as well as the other atypical antipsychotics, are being prescribed for children, even though this is an unapproved, off-label use. Eli Lilly has been charged in allegedly pushing the drug for children in more than one state.
A report by Dr. Cooper at Vanderbilt University states that 2.5 million children are now taking atypical antipsychotics. Over half are being given them for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Perhaps it is statistics like these that caused the FDA to finally require warnings on the labels of the ADHD drugs.
The use of atypical antipsychotics for children should be banned.
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Daniel Haszard Zyprexa Whistle blower