Association Between Early and Rapid Weight Gain and Change in Weight Over One Year of Olanzapine Therapy in Patients with Schizophrenia and Related Disorders

Abstract

Weight gain is an important issue in the use of atypical antipsychotics, including olanzapine. A retrospective analysis of patterns of weight gain and possible covariates was performed for 1191 patients diagnosed with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder who were treated with olanzapine for up to 52 weeks. Patients were dichotomized into 2 main groups according to the percentage of body weight gained during the first 6 weeks of treatment with olanzapine: (1) patients who gained ≥7% of their body weight (Rapid Weight Gain Group [RWG]), and (2) patients who lost weight, gained no weight, or gained