Clinical Assessment of Weight Gain with Atypical Antipsychotics - Blonanserin vs Amisulpride.
BACKGROUND
Atypical antipsychotics appear to have the greatest potential to induce weight gain. Antipsychotic-induced weight gain is the one of main cause of non-compliance and discontinuation of treatment, often resulting in the relapse of psychosis.


OBJECTIVE
To compare the weight gain between amisulpride and blonanserin treatment, in persons with psychosis.


METHODS
Fifty six subjects with psychosis attending psychiatry department at KR Hospital, Mysore were randomized into two equal groups. After obtaining informed consent, subjects of group I received amisulpride tablets 200 mg BD, and group II received blonanserin tablets 4 mg BD, for eight weeks. Body weight, Body Mass Index (BMI) and Waist Hip Ratio (WHR) were measured at baseline, 4 weeks and 8 weeks.


RESULTS
The mean weight gain with amisulpride at 4 weeks was 2.73 kg (5.21%) and at 8 weeks was 4.34 kg (8.28%) from the baseline. The mean weight gain with blonanserin at 4 weeks was 1.77 kg (3.46%) and at 8 weeks was 3.46 kg (6.75%) from the baseline. The mean BMI increase at 8 weeks with amisulpride was 1.66 ± 0.56 and with blonanserin was 1.34 ± 0.77. The mean WHR increase at 8 weeks with amisulpride was 0.036 ± 0.026 and with blonanserin was 0.029 ± 0.020. There was statistically significant increase in weight, BMI and WHR associated with both blonanserin and amisulpride at 8 weeks. But there was no statistically significant difference in those parameters between blonanserin and amisulpride, at eight weeks.


CONCLUSIONS
Even though there was no significant difference in the weight gain caused by blonanserin, in comparison with amisulpride, both these drugs individually caused significant weight gain at 8 weeks, which is in contrast with the earlier studies, which needs to be further evaluated.
Postgraduate, Department of Pharmacology, MMC&RI , Mysore, India .
T S
TS
Deepak
Professor and Head, Department of Psychiatry, MMC&RI , Mysore, India .
B N
BN
Raveesh
Professor and Head, Department of Pharmacology, MMC&RI , Mysore, India .
B M
BM
Parashivamurthy
Assistant Professor, Department of Psychiatry, MMC&RI , Mysore, India .
Ms Narendra
MN
Kumar
Assistant Professor, Department of Community Medicine, MMC&RI , Mysore, India .
Sumanth Mallikarjuna
SM
Majgi
Assistant Professor, Department of Pharmacology, MMC&RI , Mysore, India .
H N
HN
Nagesh
Metabolic adverse effects; Psychosis; Randomized controlled trial