Study suggests metformin may curb weight gain in bipolar disorder treatment

Media outlets including U.S. News and World Report and Cincinnati's Local 12 reported on newly published research from the University of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children's that found the drug metformin can help manage weight gain in overweight or obese youth taking medication to treat bipolar disorder and should be adopted as a standard of care treatment.

The MOBILITY study examined the use of metformin, a medication typically used for Type 2 diabetes that is also known to prevent weight gain. A total of 1,565 patients aged 8-19 with bipolar disorder taking second-generation antipsychotics were enrolled in the study. Everyone enrolled in the trial received a brief healthy lifestyle intervention with recommendations for healthy eating and exercise. Half of the youth were randomized to receive metformin in addition to the healthy lifestyle intervention.

"Those who were prescribed metformin had less weight gain than those who did not," study principal investigator Melissa DelBello, MD, and Dr. Stanley and Mickey Kaplan endowed chair and professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience in UC’s College of Medicine, told Local 12. "Basically, it should be the standard of care at this point for kids who are overweight or obese and who are prescribed these medications."

Read the U.S. News & World Report article.

Watch or read the Local 12 story.

Read more about the trial results.

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