JAMA Study Finds Explosive Weight Gain In Kids On Antipsychotics
A study to be published in JAMA tomorrow finds staggering weight gain in kids given antipsychotics. According to the AP:
“Children on widely used psychiatric drugs can quickly gain an alarming amount of weight; many pack on nearly 20 pounds and become obese within just 11 weeks, a study found.
“‘Sometimes this stuff just happens like an explosion. You can actually see them grow between appointments,’ said Dr. Christopher Varley, a psychiatrist with Seattle Children’s Hospital who called the study ‘sobering.’
“Weight gain is a known possible side effect of the anti-psychotic drugs which are prescribed for bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, but also increasingly for autism, attention deficit disorders and other behavior problems. The new study in mostly older children and teens suggests they may be more vulnerable to weight gain than adults.”
That is very rapid and very significant weight gain. The drugs involved were Risperdal, Seroquel, Zyprexa and Abilify. Since I’ve not seen the study, which involved 205 New York-area kids aged 4 to 17, I don’t know what range of diagnoses kids were getting these drugs for, but it’ll likely be the usual muddle of schizophrenia, pediatric bipolar disorder, autism, ADHD and so on.
If this study does not give pause to those who wish to medicate kids, then nothing will.
Related posts:
- FDA Reviewers Recommend Review Of Antipsychotic-Induced Weight Gain In Kids
- JAMA Study Slaughters Antipsychotics For Kids, Teens Paradigm
- Seroquel Promoted As Weight Neutral When Company Knew It Produced Large Weight Gain
- AstraZeneca Defends Seroquel Weight Gain Warnings
- Study: Medicaid Kids Get Antipsychotics At Four Times The Rate Of Privately-Insured Kids
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