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Even at very low doses, antipsychotics make kids fat, diabetes-prone, shorten lifespan


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Medicaid data shows 43% of atypical antipsychotic prescriptions for children were not evidence-based. But psychiatry still argues it needs to use the drugs "judiciously" to control antsy or difficult children. Increase in body fat was seen within weeks.

 

Antipsychotics Increase Adiposity, Insulin Resistance in Children

SHERRY BOSCHERT, Clinical Psychiatry News Digital Network 06/26/11

 

SAN DIEGO – Significant increases in adiposity and insulin resistance quickly became apparent in a 12-week study of low-dose antipsychotics to treat mainly nonpsychotic disorders in 144 children.

 

Newer, “atypical” antipsychotics increasingly are being used to treat mood and disruptive behavior disorders in children, Dr. John W. Newcomer said at the annual meeting of the American Diabetes Association.

 

“It’s a topic of increasing concern in a number of state Medicaid” systems, he said. Concerns have been generated in part by data showing premature mortality in people with mental disorders that’s related primarily to cardiovascular disease but also to cardiometabolic risk.

 

Children in the open-label study were randomized to flexibly dosed treatment with risperidone, olanzapine, or aripiprazole. It was their first use of antipsychotics.

 

These were “very low doses,” he emphasized. “These are not doses that would be used to treat a psychotic disorder,” said Dr. Newcomer, who led the study while at Washington University, St. Louis. He now is a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Miami.

 

The 5-year Metabolic Effects of Antipsychotics in Children (MEAC) study targeted symptoms of aggression and irritability in patients aged 6-18 years. “Typically, they had been suspended from school,” he said.

 

The main primary diagnosis was treatment-refractory attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in 57% of patients. “This is what clinicians are using these drugs for in this type of public-sector population – kids who fail two or three courses of stimulants who then are looking for some other treatment.”

 

Other main diagnoses included oppositional defiant disorder in 22%, pervasive developmental disorder in 6%, bipolar disorder in 4%, and major depression in 3%. Smaller proportions of patients were diagnosed with other mood disorders, Asperger’s syndrome, autism, obsessive-compulsive disorder, or Tourette’s syndrome.

 

Mean doses were 1 mg/day in the 49 patients on risperidone, 6.3 mg/day in the 46 patients on olanzapine, and 6 mg/day in the 49 patients on aripiprazole. Approximately half of patients also were on stable doses of stimulants for ADHD.

 

Total body percentage of adiposity increased 2.4% after 12 weeks on antipsychotics – slightly less than a standard deviation, and a highly significant change, Dr. Newcomer and his associates reported. Mean total fat increased 2.3 kg, they added.

 

The percentage body fat increased the most in the youngest children. Greater changes were seen with olanzapine than with risperidone or aripiprazole. About a fourth of patients on risperidone or aripiprazole showed little change in body fat, but three-quarters on those drugs and nearly all patients on olanzapine showed increases.

 

Whole-body insulin sensitivity decreased approximately from 8 mg/kg per minute to 7 mg/kg per minute, a significant reduction. Olanzapine produced the greatest reduction in whole-body insulin sensitivity.

 

Importantly, scores for irritability and aggression improved in all groups, he added.

 

....

As early as 6 weeks after starting therapy, significant changes could be seen on adiposity. Children with the biggest changes in body fat showed effects within the first month of treatment.

 

....

A previous nonrandomized study of 272 antipsychotic-naive children and adolescents reported weight gains of 4-8 kg and increases in BMI percentile for patients taking any of four atypical antipsychotics for a median of 11 weeks, compared with a control group (JAMA 2009;302:1811-2).

 

The study’s design raised concern that the effects could be larger than reported, however, because overweight or obese children were assigned to drugs considered to have the lowest risk for weight gain, Dr. Newcomer said.

 

In a post-hoc analysis, Dr. Newcomer showed that at the start of the current study, the children had similar rates of overweight or obesity as did children in the general population, but rates were higher in the cohort by the end of the study. The rate of overweight or obese children in the cohort increased from about 33% to 48%.

 

“I’m personally skeptical about the idea that it’s the psychiatric disorders themselves that are the metabolic challenge, rather than the treatment being the primary effect,” he said.

 

Medicaid data suggest that 43% of prescriptions for atypical antipsychotics are for indications that are not backed by evidence justifying use, he said. Visits to U.S. physicians that included prescriptions for antipsychotics to patients aged 20 years or younger more than doubled between 1997 and 2002, to a rate greater than 1,400 per 100,000 visits, a separate study reported (Arch Gen. Psych. 2006;63-681).

 

The National Institutes of Health funded the study. Dr. Newcomer has been a consultant for or received grants from Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Pfizer Inc. , AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., Schering/Merck, Vivus Inc., Obecure Ltd., Biovail Corp., Lundbeck A/S, Sanofi, and Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co. Ltd./Sepracor Inc.

 

http://www.clinicalpsychiatrynews.com/index.php?id=2426&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=59726&cHash=93ce8202cd

This is not medical advice. Discuss any decisions about your medical care with a knowledgeable medical practitioner.

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It's hard not to conclude that antipsychotics are evil. Don't know what else to say.

 

When I started, on a horrific birdie called Zyprexa, I entered a world of psychological hell. My thinking became very impaired and I had a lot of guilt and embarrassment because of thoughts and compulsions that were, objectively, weird.

 

I also put on 75 lbs or so in six months. I was in my teens and my body couldn't absorb this rapid change, so zyprexa has left it's marks on my body.

 

I guess, on the plus side, I no longer need to save for retirement.

 

Alex.i

 

ps - last bit was some dark humor. the best revenge is living long and well, while outlasting and exposing one's torturers of course. cheers!

"Well my ship's been split to splinters and it's sinking fast
I'm drowning in the poison, got no future, got no past
But my heart is not weary, it's light and it's free
I've got nothing but affection for all those who sailed with me.

Everybody's moving, if they ain't already there
Everybody's got to move somewhere
Stick with me baby, stick with me anyhow
Things should start to get interesting right about now."

- Zimmerman

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