Adjunctive effects of aripiprazole on metabolic profiles: Comparison of patients treated with olanzapine to patients treated with other atypical antipsychotic drugs

Liang Jen Wang, Shao Chun Ree, Yu Shu Huang, Cheng Cheng Hsiao, Chih Ken Chen*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal Article peer-review

26 Scopus citations

Abstract

Metabolic abnormalities are serious adverse effects of atypical antipsychotic treatment. This study aims to determine the effects of adjunctive aripiprazole on metabolic profiles among patients receiving treatment with atypical antipsychotics, and to examine whether these effects are different from that of pre-existing atypical antipsychotics. In the 8-week open-label trial, aripiprazole was added to patients who were receiving treatment with atypical antipsychotics and had experienced weight gain or dyslipidemia. The dosage of pre-existing atypical antipsychotics was fixed, while the dosage of aripiprazole ranged from 5 to 20. mg/day during the study period. Metabolic profiles, including body weight, body mass index (BMI), plasma levels of fasting glucose, triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol, and adiponectin, were measured at baseline and week 8. As a result, 43 subjects (16 males and 27 females, mean age: 37.8. ±. 10.8. years) completed the study. The pre-existing antipsychotics were olanzapine (n = 12), risperidone (n = 19), quetiapine (n = 6) and amisulpiride (n = 6). The mean dosage of adjunctive aripiprazole was 9.9. ±. 3.2. mg/day. After the aripiprazole-augmented regimen for 8. weeks, patients treated with olanzapine had significant decreases in body weight, BMI and triglyceride levels, and had significant increases in adiponectin levels. For patients treated with other atypical antipsychotics, none of the metabolic parameters significantly changed after administering aripiprazole. In conclusion, aripiprazole-augmented treatment might be beneficial for the metabolic regulation of patients being treated with a stable dose of olanzapine, but not for those treated with other atypical antipsychotics. A long-term, randomized, double-blind controlled design is suggested to confirm these findings.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)260-266
Number of pages7
JournalProgress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry
Volume40
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 01 2013

Keywords

  • Antipsychotics
  • Aripiprazole
  • Dyslipidemia
  • Metabolic syndrome
  • Schizophrenia

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