Reply to Letter to the Editor "Weight Gain and Antipsychotic Medications"

Letter to the Editor

Sir: First, there is no question that some antipsychotic agents are associated with greater weight gain than other agents. For example, in the Allison et al. meta-analysis1 of data from 73 trials, mean weight increases after 10 weeks of treatment were as follows: 9.8 lb (4.5 kg) with clozapine, 9.1 lb (4.1 kg) with olanzapine, 4.6 lb (2.1 kg) with risperidone, 2.3 lb (1.0 kg) with haloperidol, and 1.9 lb (0.9 kg) with ziprasidone. In 1997, a researcher from Eli Lilly reported that the mean increase in weight after 1 year in patients receiving 15 ± 2.5 mg/day of olanzapine was 26 lb (11.8 kg).