Paula J. Caplan, a clinical and research psychologist at Harvard University wrote in a perspective article in the Boston Globe (01/24/10) that one commonly overlooked cause of obesity in many Americans is the use of second generation antipsychotic medications, which are strongly linked to weight gain and metabolic dysfunction. Its amazing that the link between these antipsychotic medications, such as the best selling drug, Zyprexa, remains little known despite the fact that it has been six years since the leading medical associations encompassing obesity, diabetes, endocrinology and psychiatry issued a joint statement proclaiming just such a link (Diabetes Care, Vol. 27, Number 2, Feb. 2004; 596-601).
Dr. Caplan rightfully points out that much needs to be done to increase the public awareness of this important health issue, and she recruits the first lady as well as the Food and Drug Administration to work at the forefront to bring this important issue to its rightful level of awareness. Without a heightened level of awareness of the causal link between the use of second generation antipsychotics amongst prescribing physicians and patients alike, this cause of obesity will continue to expand.
Highlights from Dr. Caplan’s article are excerpted below: “It is striking that the weight of many Americans has ballooned just as the prescribing of psychiatric drugs has surged. The Obesity Society categorizes nearly two-thirds of adult Americans as overweight, the average weight of an adult having increased since 1960 by 25 pounds, and between 1996 and 2006 alone, prescriptions of psychiatric drugs for US adults increased 73 percent. The courageous Alaskan attorney James Gottstein in 2006 exposed drug company Eli Lilly’s concealment of its knowledge about the effects of its drug Zyprexa3 (approved to treat schizophrenia and bipolar disorder but also prescribed for other conditions) on weight gain, and subsequent reports have revealed such effects of a whole range of psychiatric drugs. But nearly all researchers and journalists who focus on obesity fail to mention the drug link.
What’s worse is that the connection between psychiatric drugs and obesity involves children, too. Over the past two decades the number of obese adolescents has tripled, while the 10 years after 1996 saw prescriptions of psychiatric drugs for US children rise 50 percent. And a new federal study shows that poor children are more likely than other kids to be put on drugs marketed as antipsychotics, one of the greatest culprits for causing major weight gain as well as lifelong metabolic problems. Add the humiliation to which kids subject overweight peers, and the potential psychological damage is frightening.
Overall, much must be done. The first lady should talk about the obesity/drugs link. The Food and Drug Administration must ride herd — hard — on drug companies that conceal that connection. Every physician should alert patients to this potential effect and explore other non-drug ways to treat emotional problems. Publishers and editors should insist that this link be addressed in stories about obesity. The American Psychiatric Association should refuse to categorize it as a mental illness in its DSM-V. And every citizen should stop the knee-jerk blaming of people with weight problems for allegedly lacking self-control.”
Read the full article at Gibbs Biomedical Consulting
