Olanzapine, weight change and metabolic effects: a naturalistic 12-month follow up

OBJECTIVE: Olanzapine is an atypical antipsychotic drug used to treat schizophrenia. Some of the adverse effects related to its use are obesity, hyperlipidemia, type 2 diabetes and hypertension, which may result in development of metabolic syndrome. This study aimed to investigate a possible increase in some anthropometric and biochemical parameters, and the existence of any correlation between them in Brazilian patients with schizophrenia treated with olanzapine in the mid term. METHODS: Thirty subjects with schizophrenia were evaluated, 16 women and 14 men, aged between 18 and 47 years. All patients underwent blood collection and anthropometric measurements at four different times during 12 months of follow up; thus each patient was his or her own control. RESULTS: Evaluation of some anthropometric measurements showed significant differences when comparing the mean values obtained in each of the different data collection times (p < 0.05). However, the biochemical indicators of development of metabolic syndrome measured in our study did not show the same rate of increment, with only the total cholesterol and glucose levels presenting statistically significant changes (p < 0.05), but without the same magnitude of weight change. CONCLUSION: We conclude that medium-term treatment with olanzapine promoted a substantial weight gain and increased visceral fat, while the metabolic profile did not show the same magnitude of change, suggesting a dissociation between weight gain and blood parameters, despite the severe weight gain observed among subjects evaluated.