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Kids taking the latest generation of antipsychotic meds gain significant amounts of weight–as much as 19 pounds on average in just 11 weeks for kids taking Zyprexa, according to a study published today in JAMA. Abilify, Risperdal and Seroquel were all linked to weight gain as well. Here’s the WSJ story.

In fact, every one of the more than 200 children and adolescents who took the medicines in the study added weight, Christoph Correll, a psychiatrist who was one of the authors of the study, told the Health Blog. For some drugs, doses didn’t matter; for others, they did.

The link to weight gain has been clear for a while. But it’s not entirely clear why people gain weight when they start taking these drugs, according to Correll. Answering that question could help explain how weight gain works in people who aren’t mentally ill. “Most likely these medications are using the same pathways associated with obesity,” Correll said.

In the meantime, docs should keep close tabs on the weight of kids who are taking these drugs. “The onset of the weight gain was so pronounced and so significant there’s probably an argument for doing those measurements every few weeks,” a child psychiatrist who wrote an editorial that accompanied the study told the WSJ.

Photo: Bloomberg News

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Why Do Antipsychotic Meds Cause Weight Gain in Kids?