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MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA – , according to a new evidence-based Irish guideline for the management of this common complication in adults with psychoses who are taking medications.
The document was discussed during one of the sessions of the XXXV Argentine Congress of Psychiatry of the Association of Argentine Psychiatrists. The document also was presented by one of its authors at the European Congress on Obesity 2022.
The guideline encourages psychiatrists not to underestimate the adverse metabolic effects of their treatments and encourages them to contemplate and carry out this prevention and management strategy, commented María Delia Michat, PhD, professor of clinical psychiatry and psychopharmacology at the APSA Postgraduate Training Institute, Buenos Aires.
“Although it is always good to work as a team, it is usually we psychiatrists who coordinate the pharmacological treatment of our patients, and we have to know how to manage drugs that can prevent cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Michat said in an interview.
“The new guideline is helpful because it protocolizes the use of metformin, which is the cheapest drug and has the most evidence for antipsychotic-induced weight gain,” she added.
Avoiding metabolic syndrome
In patients with schizophrenia, obesity rates are 40% higher than in the general population, and 80% of patients develop weight gain after their first treatment, noted Dr. Michat. “Right away, weight gain is seen in the first month. And it is a serious problem, because patients with schizophrenia, major depression, or bipolar disorder already have an increased risk of premature mortality, especially from cardiovascular diseases, and they have an increased risk of metabolic syndrome. And we sometimes give drugs that further increase that risk,” she said.
Being overweight is a major criterion for defining metabolic syndrome. Dr. Michat noted that, among the antipsychotic drugs that increase weight the most are clozapine, olanzapine, chlorpromazine, quetiapine, and risperidone, in addition to other psychoactive drugs, such as valproic acid, lithium, mirtazapine, and tricyclic antidepressants.
Several clinical trials, such as a pioneering Chinese study from 2008, have shown the potential of metformin to mitigate the weight gain induced by this type of drug.
However, Dr. Michat noted that so far the major guidelines (for example, the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments [CANMAT]/International Society for Bipolar Disorders [ISBD] for bipolar disorder and the American Psychiatric Association [APA] for schizophrenia) “say very little” on how to address this complication. They propose what she defined as a “problematic” order of action in which the initial emphasis is on promoting lifestyle changes, which are difficult for these patients to carry out, as well as general proposals for changing medication (which is not simple to implement when the patient’s condition is stabilized) and eventual consultation with a clinician to start therapy with metformin or other drugs, such as liraglutide, semaglutide, and topiramate.
The new clinical practice guideline, which was published in Evidence-Based Mental Health (of the BMJ journal group), was written by a multidisciplinary team of pharmacists, psychiatrists, and mental health nurses from Ireland. It aims to fill that gap. The investigators reviewed 1,270 scientific articles and analyzed 26 of them in depth, including seven randomized clinical trials and a 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis. The authors made a “strong” recommendation, for which there was moderate-quality evidence, that for patients for whom a lifestyle intervention is unacceptable or inappropriate the use of metformin is an “alternative first-line intervention” for antipsychotic drug–induced weight gain.
Likewise, as a strong recommendation with moderate-quality evidence, the guidance encourages the use of metformin when nonpharmacologic intervention does not seem to be effective.
The guideline also says it is preferable to start metformin early for patients who gain more than 7% of their baseline weight within the first month of antipsychotic treatment. It also endorses metformin when weight gain is established.
Other recommendations include evaluating baseline kidney function before starting metformin treatment and suggest a dose adjustment when the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2. The guidance says the use of metformin is contraindicated for patients in whom eGFR is <30 mL/min per 1.73 m2. The proposed starting dosage is 500 mg twice per day with meals, with increments of 500 mg every 1-2 weeks until reaching a target dose of 2,000 mg/day. The guidance recommends that consideration always be given to individual tolerability and efficacy.
Treatment goals should be personalized and agreed upon with patients. In the case of early intervention, the guideline proposes initially stabilizing the weight gained or, if possible, reverse excess weight. When weight gain is established, the goal would be to lose at least 5% of the weight within the next 6 months.
The authors also recommend monitoring kidney function annually, as well as vitamin B12 levels and individual tolerability and compliance. Gastrointestinal adverse effects can be managed by dose reduction or slower dose titration. The risk of lactic acidosis, which affects 4.3 per 100,000 person-years among those taking metformin, can be attenuated by adjusting the dose according to kidney function or avoiding prescribing it to patients who have a history of alcohol abuse or who are receiving treatment that may interact with the drug.
Validating pharmacologic management
The lead author of the new guideline, Ita Fitzgerald, a teacher in clinical pharmacy and senior pharmacist at St. Patrick’s Mental Health Services in Dublin, pointed out that there is a bias toward not using drugs for weight management and shifting the responsibility onto the patients themselves, something that is very often out of their control.
“The purpose of the guideline was to decide on a range of criteria to maximize the use of metformin, to recognize that for many people, pharmacological management is a valid and important option that could and should be more widely used and to provide precise and practical guidance to physicians to facilitate a more widespread use,” Ms. Fitzgerald said in an interview.
According to Fitzgerald, who is pursuing her doctorate at University College Cork (Ireland), one of the most outstanding results of the work is that it highlights that the main benefit of metformin is to flatten rather than reverse antipsychotic-induced weight gain and that indicating it late can nullify that effect.
“In all the recommendations, we try very hard to shift the focus from metformin’s role as a weight reversal agent to one as a weight management agent that should be used early in treatment, which is when most weight gain occurs. If metformin succeeds in flattening that increase, that’s a huge potential benefit for an inexpensive and easily accessible drug. When people have already established weight gain, metformin may not be enough and alternative treatments should be used,” she said.
In addition to its effects on weight, metformin has many other potential health benefits. Of particular importance is that it reduces hyperphagia-mediated antipsychotic-induced weight gain, Ms. Fitzgerald pointed out.
“This is subjectively very important for patients and provides a more positive experience when taking antipsychotics. Antipsychotic-induced weight gain is one of the main reasons for premature discontinuation or incomplete adherence to these drugs and therefore needs to be addressed proactively,” she concluded.
Ms. Fitzgerald and Dr. Michat have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com. This article was translated from the Medscape Spanish edition.
MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA – , according to a new evidence-based Irish guideline for the management of this common complication in adults with psychoses who are taking medications.
The document was discussed during one of the sessions of the XXXV Argentine Congress of Psychiatry of the Association of Argentine Psychiatrists. The document also was presented by one of its authors at the European Congress on Obesity 2022.
The guideline encourages psychiatrists not to underestimate the adverse metabolic effects of their treatments and encourages them to contemplate and carry out this prevention and management strategy, commented María Delia Michat, PhD, professor of clinical psychiatry and psychopharmacology at the APSA Postgraduate Training Institute, Buenos Aires.
“Although it is always good to work as a team, it is usually we psychiatrists who coordinate the pharmacological treatment of our patients, and we have to know how to manage drugs that can prevent cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Michat said in an interview.
“The new guideline is helpful because it protocolizes the use of metformin, which is the cheapest drug and has the most evidence for antipsychotic-induced weight gain,” she added.
Avoiding metabolic syndrome
In patients with schizophrenia, obesity rates are 40% higher than in the general population, and 80% of patients develop weight gain after their first treatment, noted Dr. Michat. “Right away, weight gain is seen in the first month. And it is a serious problem, because patients with schizophrenia, major depression, or bipolar disorder already have an increased risk of premature mortality, especially from cardiovascular diseases, and they have an increased risk of metabolic syndrome. And we sometimes give drugs that further increase that risk,” she said.
Being overweight is a major criterion for defining metabolic syndrome. Dr. Michat noted that, among the antipsychotic drugs that increase weight the most are clozapine, olanzapine, chlorpromazine, quetiapine, and risperidone, in addition to other psychoactive drugs, such as valproic acid, lithium, mirtazapine, and tricyclic antidepressants.
Several clinical trials, such as a pioneering Chinese study from 2008, have shown the potential of metformin to mitigate the weight gain induced by this type of drug.
However, Dr. Michat noted that so far the major guidelines (for example, the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments [CANMAT]/International Society for Bipolar Disorders [ISBD] for bipolar disorder and the American Psychiatric Association [APA] for schizophrenia) “say very little” on how to address this complication. They propose what she defined as a “problematic” order of action in which the initial emphasis is on promoting lifestyle changes, which are difficult for these patients to carry out, as well as general proposals for changing medication (which is not simple to implement when the patient’s condition is stabilized) and eventual consultation with a clinician to start therapy with metformin or other drugs, such as liraglutide, semaglutide, and topiramate.
The new clinical practice guideline, which was published in Evidence-Based Mental Health (of the BMJ journal group), was written by a multidisciplinary team of pharmacists, psychiatrists, and mental health nurses from Ireland. It aims to fill that gap. The investigators reviewed 1,270 scientific articles and analyzed 26 of them in depth, including seven randomized clinical trials and a 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis. The authors made a “strong” recommendation, for which there was moderate-quality evidence, that for patients for whom a lifestyle intervention is unacceptable or inappropriate the use of metformin is an “alternative first-line intervention” for antipsychotic drug–induced weight gain.
Likewise, as a strong recommendation with moderate-quality evidence, the guidance encourages the use of metformin when nonpharmacologic intervention does not seem to be effective.
The guideline also says it is preferable to start metformin early for patients who gain more than 7% of their baseline weight within the first month of antipsychotic treatment. It also endorses metformin when weight gain is established.
Other recommendations include evaluating baseline kidney function before starting metformin treatment and suggest a dose adjustment when the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2. The guidance says the use of metformin is contraindicated for patients in whom eGFR is <30 mL/min per 1.73 m2. The proposed starting dosage is 500 mg twice per day with meals, with increments of 500 mg every 1-2 weeks until reaching a target dose of 2,000 mg/day. The guidance recommends that consideration always be given to individual tolerability and efficacy.
Treatment goals should be personalized and agreed upon with patients. In the case of early intervention, the guideline proposes initially stabilizing the weight gained or, if possible, reverse excess weight. When weight gain is established, the goal would be to lose at least 5% of the weight within the next 6 months.
The authors also recommend monitoring kidney function annually, as well as vitamin B12 levels and individual tolerability and compliance. Gastrointestinal adverse effects can be managed by dose reduction or slower dose titration. The risk of lactic acidosis, which affects 4.3 per 100,000 person-years among those taking metformin, can be attenuated by adjusting the dose according to kidney function or avoiding prescribing it to patients who have a history of alcohol abuse or who are receiving treatment that may interact with the drug.
Validating pharmacologic management
The lead author of the new guideline, Ita Fitzgerald, a teacher in clinical pharmacy and senior pharmacist at St. Patrick’s Mental Health Services in Dublin, pointed out that there is a bias toward not using drugs for weight management and shifting the responsibility onto the patients themselves, something that is very often out of their control.
“The purpose of the guideline was to decide on a range of criteria to maximize the use of metformin, to recognize that for many people, pharmacological management is a valid and important option that could and should be more widely used and to provide precise and practical guidance to physicians to facilitate a more widespread use,” Ms. Fitzgerald said in an interview.
According to Fitzgerald, who is pursuing her doctorate at University College Cork (Ireland), one of the most outstanding results of the work is that it highlights that the main benefit of metformin is to flatten rather than reverse antipsychotic-induced weight gain and that indicating it late can nullify that effect.
“In all the recommendations, we try very hard to shift the focus from metformin’s role as a weight reversal agent to one as a weight management agent that should be used early in treatment, which is when most weight gain occurs. If metformin succeeds in flattening that increase, that’s a huge potential benefit for an inexpensive and easily accessible drug. When people have already established weight gain, metformin may not be enough and alternative treatments should be used,” she said.
In addition to its effects on weight, metformin has many other potential health benefits. Of particular importance is that it reduces hyperphagia-mediated antipsychotic-induced weight gain, Ms. Fitzgerald pointed out.
“This is subjectively very important for patients and provides a more positive experience when taking antipsychotics. Antipsychotic-induced weight gain is one of the main reasons for premature discontinuation or incomplete adherence to these drugs and therefore needs to be addressed proactively,” she concluded.
Ms. Fitzgerald and Dr. Michat have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com. This article was translated from the Medscape Spanish edition.
MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA – , according to a new evidence-based Irish guideline for the management of this common complication in adults with psychoses who are taking medications.
The document was discussed during one of the sessions of the XXXV Argentine Congress of Psychiatry of the Association of Argentine Psychiatrists. The document also was presented by one of its authors at the European Congress on Obesity 2022.
The guideline encourages psychiatrists not to underestimate the adverse metabolic effects of their treatments and encourages them to contemplate and carry out this prevention and management strategy, commented María Delia Michat, PhD, professor of clinical psychiatry and psychopharmacology at the APSA Postgraduate Training Institute, Buenos Aires.
“Although it is always good to work as a team, it is usually we psychiatrists who coordinate the pharmacological treatment of our patients, and we have to know how to manage drugs that can prevent cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Michat said in an interview.
“The new guideline is helpful because it protocolizes the use of metformin, which is the cheapest drug and has the most evidence for antipsychotic-induced weight gain,” she added.
Avoiding metabolic syndrome
In patients with schizophrenia, obesity rates are 40% higher than in the general population, and 80% of patients develop weight gain after their first treatment, noted Dr. Michat. “Right away, weight gain is seen in the first month. And it is a serious problem, because patients with schizophrenia, major depression, or bipolar disorder already have an increased risk of premature mortality, especially from cardiovascular diseases, and they have an increased risk of metabolic syndrome. And we sometimes give drugs that further increase that risk,” she said.
Being overweight is a major criterion for defining metabolic syndrome. Dr. Michat noted that, among the antipsychotic drugs that increase weight the most are clozapine, olanzapine, chlorpromazine, quetiapine, and risperidone, in addition to other psychoactive drugs, such as valproic acid, lithium, mirtazapine, and tricyclic antidepressants.
Several clinical trials, such as a pioneering Chinese study from 2008, have shown the potential of metformin to mitigate the weight gain induced by this type of drug.
However, Dr. Michat noted that so far the major guidelines (for example, the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments [CANMAT]/International Society for Bipolar Disorders [ISBD] for bipolar disorder and the American Psychiatric Association [APA] for schizophrenia) “say very little” on how to address this complication. They propose what she defined as a “problematic” order of action in which the initial emphasis is on promoting lifestyle changes, which are difficult for these patients to carry out, as well as general proposals for changing medication (which is not simple to implement when the patient’s condition is stabilized) and eventual consultation with a clinician to start therapy with metformin or other drugs, such as liraglutide, semaglutide, and topiramate.
The new clinical practice guideline, which was published in Evidence-Based Mental Health (of the BMJ journal group), was written by a multidisciplinary team of pharmacists, psychiatrists, and mental health nurses from Ireland. It aims to fill that gap. The investigators reviewed 1,270 scientific articles and analyzed 26 of them in depth, including seven randomized clinical trials and a 2016 systematic review and meta-analysis. The authors made a “strong” recommendation, for which there was moderate-quality evidence, that for patients for whom a lifestyle intervention is unacceptable or inappropriate the use of metformin is an “alternative first-line intervention” for antipsychotic drug–induced weight gain.
Likewise, as a strong recommendation with moderate-quality evidence, the guidance encourages the use of metformin when nonpharmacologic intervention does not seem to be effective.
The guideline also says it is preferable to start metformin early for patients who gain more than 7% of their baseline weight within the first month of antipsychotic treatment. It also endorses metformin when weight gain is established.
Other recommendations include evaluating baseline kidney function before starting metformin treatment and suggest a dose adjustment when the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is < 60 mL/min/1.73 m2. The guidance says the use of metformin is contraindicated for patients in whom eGFR is <30 mL/min per 1.73 m2. The proposed starting dosage is 500 mg twice per day with meals, with increments of 500 mg every 1-2 weeks until reaching a target dose of 2,000 mg/day. The guidance recommends that consideration always be given to individual tolerability and efficacy.
Treatment goals should be personalized and agreed upon with patients. In the case of early intervention, the guideline proposes initially stabilizing the weight gained or, if possible, reverse excess weight. When weight gain is established, the goal would be to lose at least 5% of the weight within the next 6 months.
The authors also recommend monitoring kidney function annually, as well as vitamin B12 levels and individual tolerability and compliance. Gastrointestinal adverse effects can be managed by dose reduction or slower dose titration. The risk of lactic acidosis, which affects 4.3 per 100,000 person-years among those taking metformin, can be attenuated by adjusting the dose according to kidney function or avoiding prescribing it to patients who have a history of alcohol abuse or who are receiving treatment that may interact with the drug.
Validating pharmacologic management
The lead author of the new guideline, Ita Fitzgerald, a teacher in clinical pharmacy and senior pharmacist at St. Patrick’s Mental Health Services in Dublin, pointed out that there is a bias toward not using drugs for weight management and shifting the responsibility onto the patients themselves, something that is very often out of their control.
“The purpose of the guideline was to decide on a range of criteria to maximize the use of metformin, to recognize that for many people, pharmacological management is a valid and important option that could and should be more widely used and to provide precise and practical guidance to physicians to facilitate a more widespread use,” Ms. Fitzgerald said in an interview.
According to Fitzgerald, who is pursuing her doctorate at University College Cork (Ireland), one of the most outstanding results of the work is that it highlights that the main benefit of metformin is to flatten rather than reverse antipsychotic-induced weight gain and that indicating it late can nullify that effect.
“In all the recommendations, we try very hard to shift the focus from metformin’s role as a weight reversal agent to one as a weight management agent that should be used early in treatment, which is when most weight gain occurs. If metformin succeeds in flattening that increase, that’s a huge potential benefit for an inexpensive and easily accessible drug. When people have already established weight gain, metformin may not be enough and alternative treatments should be used,” she said.
In addition to its effects on weight, metformin has many other potential health benefits. Of particular importance is that it reduces hyperphagia-mediated antipsychotic-induced weight gain, Ms. Fitzgerald pointed out.
“This is subjectively very important for patients and provides a more positive experience when taking antipsychotics. Antipsychotic-induced weight gain is one of the main reasons for premature discontinuation or incomplete adherence to these drugs and therefore needs to be addressed proactively,” she concluded.
Ms. Fitzgerald and Dr. Michat have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.
A version of this article appeared on Medscape.com. This article was translated from the Medscape Spanish edition.
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This material may not be published, broadcast, copied, or otherwise reproduced or distributed without the prior written permission of Frontline Medical Communications Inc.</copyrightNotice> </rightsInfo> </provider> <abstract/> <metaDescription>Psychiatrists should prescribe metformin early to patients who experience rapid weight gain after they begin taking antipsychotic drugs</metaDescription> <articlePDF/> <teaserImage/> <teaser>The main benefit of metformin is to flatten rather than reverse antipsychotic-induced weight gain.</teaser> <title>Early metformin minimizes antipsychotic-induced weight gain</title> <deck/> <disclaimer/> <AuthorList/> <articleURL/> <doi/> <pubMedID/> <publishXMLStatus/> <publishXMLVersion>1</publishXMLVersion> <useEISSN>0</useEISSN> <urgency/> <pubPubdateYear/> <pubPubdateMonth/> <pubPubdateDay/> <pubVolume/> <pubNumber/> <wireChannels/> <primaryCMSID/> <CMSIDs/> <keywords/> <seeAlsos/> <publications_g> <publicationData> <publicationCode>cpn</publicationCode> <pubIssueName/> <pubArticleType/> <pubTopics/> <pubCategories/> <pubSections/> </publicationData> <publicationData> <publicationCode>endo</publicationCode> <pubIssueName/> <pubArticleType/> <pubTopics/> <pubCategories/> <pubSections/> </publicationData> <publicationData> <publicationCode>fp</publicationCode> <pubIssueName/> <pubArticleType/> <pubTopics/> <pubCategories/> <pubSections/> </publicationData> <publicationData> <publicationCode>im</publicationCode> <pubIssueName/> <pubArticleType/> <pubTopics/> <pubCategories/> <pubSections/> </publicationData> </publications_g> <publications> <term canonical="true">9</term> <term>34</term> <term>15</term> <term>21</term> </publications> <sections> <term canonical="true">53</term> <term>39313</term> </sections> <topics> <term canonical="true">293</term> <term>205</term> <term>248</term> <term>206</term> <term>190</term> </topics> <links/> </header> <itemSet> <newsItem> <itemMeta> <itemRole>Main</itemRole> <itemClass>text</itemClass> <title>Early metformin minimizes antipsychotic-induced weight gain</title> <deck/> </itemMeta> <itemContent> <p><span class="dateline">MAR DEL PLATA, ARGENTINA</span> – <span class="tag metaDescription">Psychiatrists should prescribe <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://reference.medscape.com/drug/glucophage-metformin-342717">metformin</a></span> early to patients who experience rapid weight gain after they begin taking antipsychotic drugs</span>, according to a new evidence-based <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://ebmh.bmj.com/content/25/1/15">Irish guideline</a></span> for the management of this common complication in adults with psychoses who are taking medications.</p> <p>The document was discussed during one of the sessions of the XXXV Argentine Congress of Psychiatry of the Association of Argentine Psychiatrists, which was held from April 27 to 30. The document also was presented by one of its authors at the European Congress on <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/123702-overview">Obesity</a></span> 2022, which took place in Maastricht, the Netherlands, from May 4 to 7.<br/><br/>The guideline encourages psychiatrists not to underestimate the adverse metabolic effects of their treatments and encourages them to contemplate and carry out this prevention and management strategy, commented María Delia Michat, PhD, professor of clinical psychiatry and psychopharmacology at the APSA Postgraduate Training Institute, Buenos Aires.<br/><br/>“Although it is always good to work as a team, it is usually we psychiatrists who coordinate the pharmacological treatment of our patients, and we have to know how to manage drugs that can prevent cardiovascular disease,” Dr. Michat said in an interview.<br/><br/>“The new guideline is helpful because it protocolizes the use of metformin, which is the cheapest drug and has the most evidence for antipsychotic-induced weight gain,” she added.<br/><br/></p> <h2>Avoiding metabolic syndrome</h2> <p>In patients with <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/288259-overview">schizophrenia</a></span>, obesity rates are 40% higher than in the general population, and 80% of patients develop weight gain after their first treatment, noted Dr. Michat. “Right away, weight gain is seen in the first month. And it is a serious problem, because patients with schizophrenia, major <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/286759-overview">depression</a></span>, or <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/286342-overview">bipolar disorder</a></span> already have an increased risk of premature mortality, especially from cardiovascular diseases, and they have an increased risk of <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/165124-overview">metabolic syndrome</a></span>. And we sometimes give drugs that further increase that risk,” she said.</p> <p>Being overweight is a major criterion for defining metabolic syndrome. Dr. Michat noted that, among the antipsychotic drugs that increase weight the most are <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://reference.medscape.com/drug/clozaril-fazaclo-odt-clozapine-342972">clozapine</a></span>, <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://reference.medscape.com/drug/zyprexa-relprevv-olanzapine-342979">olanzapine</a></span>, <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://reference.medscape.com/drug/chlorpromazine-342970">chlorpromazine</a></span>, <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://reference.medscape.com/drug/seroquel-xr-quetiapine-342984">quetiapine</a></span>, and <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://reference.medscape.com/drug/perseris-risperdal-consta-risperidone-342986">risperidone</a></span>, in addition to other psychoactive drugs, such as <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://reference.medscape.com/drug/depakene-stavzor-valproic-acid-343024">valproic acid</a></span>, <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://reference.medscape.com/drug/eskalith-lithobid-lithium-342934">lithium</a></span>, <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://reference.medscape.com/drug/remeron-soltab-mirtazapine-342966">mirtazapine</a></span>, and tricyclic antidepressants.<br/><br/>Several clinical trials, such as a pioneering Chinese study from 2008, have shown the potential of metformin to mitigate the weight gain induced by this type of drug.<br/><br/>However, Dr. Michat noted that so far the major guidelines (for example, the Canadian Network for Mood and Anxiety Treatments [CANMAT]/International Society for Bipolar Disorders [ISBD] for bipolar disorder and the American Psychiatric Association [APA] for schizophrenia) “say very little” on how to address this complication. They propose what she defined as a “problematic” order of action in which the initial emphasis is on promoting lifestyle changes, which are difficult for these patients to carry out, as well as general proposals for changing medication (which is not simple to implement when the patient’s condition is stabilized) and eventual consultation with a clinician to start therapy with metformin or other drugs, such as <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://reference.medscape.com/drug/victoza-saxenda-liraglutide-999449">liraglutide</a></span>, <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://reference.medscape.com/drug/ozempic-semaglutide-1000174">semaglutide</a></span>, and <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://reference.medscape.com/drug/topamax-trokendi-xr-topiramate-343023">topiramate</a></span>.<br/><br/>The new clinical practice guideline, which was published in Evidence-Based Mental Health (of the BMJ journal group), was written by a multidisciplinary team of pharmacists, psychiatrists, and mental health nurses from Ireland. It aims to fill that gap. The investigators reviewed 1,270 scientific articles and analyzed 26 of them in depth, including seven randomized clinical trials and a 2016 <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://bmcpsychiatry.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12888-016-1049-5">systematic review</a></span> and meta-analysis. The authors made a “strong” recommendation, for which there was moderate-quality evidence, that for patients for whom a lifestyle intervention is unacceptable or inappropriate the use of metformin is an “alternative first-line intervention” for antipsychotic drug–induced weight gain.<br/><br/>Likewise, as a strong recommendation with moderate-quality evidence, the guidance encourages the use of metformin when nonpharmacologic intervention does not seem to be effective.<br/><br/>The guideline also says it is preferable to start metformin early for patients who gain more than 7% of their baseline weight within the first month of antipsychotic treatment. It also endorses metformin when weight gain is established.<br/><br/>Other recommendations include evaluating baseline kidney function before starting metformin treatment and suggest a dose adjustment when the estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) is < 60 mL/min/1.73 m<sup>2</sup>. The guidance says the use of metformin is contraindicated for patients in whom eGFR is <30 mL/min per 1.73 m<sup>2</sup>. The proposed starting dosage is 500 mg twice per day with meals, with increments of 500 mg every 1-2 weeks until reaching a target dose of 2,000 mg/day. The guidance recommends that consideration always be given to individual tolerability and efficacy.<br/><br/>Treatment goals should be personalized and agreed upon with patients. In the case of early intervention, the guideline proposes initially stabilizing the weight gained or, if possible, reverse excess weight. When weight gain is established, the goal would be to lose at least 5% of the weight within the next 6 months.<br/><br/>The authors also recommend monitoring kidney function annually, as well as vitamin B<sub>12</sub> levels and individual tolerability and compliance. Gastrointestinal adverse effects can be managed by dose reduction or slower dose titration. The risk of lactic acidosis, which affects 4.3 per 100,000 person-years among those taking metformin, can be attenuated by adjusting the dose according to kidney function or avoiding prescribing it to patients who have a history of <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://emedicine.medscape.com/article/285913-overview">alcohol abuse</a></span> or who are receiving treatment that may interact with the drug.<br/><br/></p> <h2>Validating pharmacologic management</h2> <p>The lead author of the new guideline, Ita Fitzgerald, a teacher in clinical pharmacy and senior pharmacist at St. Patrick’s Mental Health Services in Dublin, pointed out that there is a bias toward not using drugs for weight management and shifting the responsibility onto the patients themselves, something that is very often out of their control.</p> <p>“The purpose of the guideline was to decide on a range of criteria to maximize the use of metformin, to recognize that for many people, pharmacological management is a valid and important option that could and should be more widely used and to provide precise and practical guidance to physicians to facilitate a more widespread use,” Ms. Fitzgerald said in an interview.<br/><br/>According to Fitzgerald, who is pursuing her doctorate at University College Cork (Ireland), one of the most outstanding results of the work is that it highlights that the main benefit of metformin is to flatten rather than reverse antipsychotic-induced weight gain and that indicating it late can nullify that effect.<br/><br/>“In all the recommendations, we try very hard to shift the focus from metformin’s role as a weight reversal agent to one as a weight management agent that should be used early in treatment, which is when most weight gain occurs. If metformin succeeds in flattening that increase, that’s a huge potential benefit for an inexpensive and easily accessible drug. When people have already established weight gain, metformin may not be enough and alternative treatments should be used,” she said.<br/><br/>In addition to its effects on weight, metformin has many other potential health benefits. Of particular importance is that it reduces hyperphagia-mediated antipsychotic-induced weight gain, Ms. Fitzgerald pointed out.<br/><br/>“This is subjectively very important for patients and provides a more positive experience when taking antipsychotics. Antipsychotic-induced weight gain is one of the main reasons for premature discontinuation or incomplete adherence to these drugs and therefore needs to be addressed proactively,” she concluded.<br/><br/>Ms. Fitzgerald and Dr. Michat have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.<span class="end"/></p> <p> <em>A version of this article appeared on <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/974882">Medscape.com</a></span>. This article was <span class="Hyperlink"><a href="https://espanol.medscape.com/verarticulo/5909058">translated</a></span> from the Medscape Spanish edition.</em> </p> </itemContent> </newsItem> <newsItem> <itemMeta> <itemRole>teaser</itemRole> <itemClass>text</itemClass> <title/> <deck/> </itemMeta> <itemContent> </itemContent> </newsItem> </itemSet></root>