UC researchers seek to combat youth weight gain from bipolar medication

Cleveland.com highlighted a University of Cincinnati initiative approved for funding by the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) to expand the implementation of healthy lifestyle interventions and metformin prescription to help manage weight gain in overweight or obese youth taking second-generation antipsychotic medications (SGAs).

SGAs are commonly used to treat youth living with mood, autism and psychotic disorders. Although these medications work well to help manage symptoms of these disorders, they are associated with significant weight gain, which is linked to long-term health problems and a negative impact on weight satisfaction, relationships with friends and overall quality of life. Weight gain is also the most common reason youth stop taking an SGA.

Led by UC’s Melissa DelBello, MD, and Christina Klein, PhD, the project aims to broadly implement these interventions for youth prescribed an SGA at academic and community mental health centers in Ohio, Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.

“The overall goal is to increase the number of SGA-treated youth (aged 8 to 19) with overweight/obesity who are offered metformin and healthy lifestyle education to manage weight gain,” said DelBello, the Dr. Stanley and Mickey Kaplan endowed chair and professor of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience in UC’s College of Medicine.

The funding will total about $3.5 million over the next four years.

Read the Cleveland.com article.

Read more about the research.

Featured illustration at top of a doctor discussing medication with a mother and son. Photo/Drazen_/iStock Photo.