The effect of famotidine addition on olanzapine-induced weight gain in first-episode schizophrenia patients: A double-blind placebo-controlled pilot study

Michael Poyurovsky*, Vered Tal, Rachel Maayan, Irit Gil-Ad, Camil Fuchs, Abraham Weizman

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Olanzapine treatment is associated with substantial weight gain. In this double-blind placebo-controlled study we evaluated whether the H2 antagonist famotidine may prevent/attenuate olanzapine-induced weight gain. Fourteen first-episode DSM-IV schizophrenia patients were randomly allocated to receive either famotidine (40 mg/day, n=7) or placebo (n=7) in addition to olanzapine (10 mg/day) for 6 weeks. All patients completed the trial. Patients in both groups showed a similar increase in body weight (olanzapine/famotidine: 4.8 (3.2) kg and olanzapine/placebo: 4.9 (1.6) kg, respectively; a between-group difference of 0.14 (1.3) kg). Four of seven (57.1%) patients in the olanzapine/famotidine group and three of seven (42.9%) in the olanzapine/placebo group gained at least 7% of their initial body weight, a cut-off for clinically significant weight gain. Famotidine addition was safe and well tolerated and did not interfere with olanzapine's therapeutic effect. In conclusion, famotidine (40 mg/day for 6 weeks) is not effective in preventing/attenuating weight gain in olanzapine-treated first-episode schizophrenia patients.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)332-336
Number of pages5
JournalEuropean Neuropsychopharmacology
Volume14
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 2004

Keywords

  • Famotidine
  • Histamine H2 antagonist
  • Olanzapine
  • Schizophrenia
  • Weight gain

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'The effect of famotidine addition on olanzapine-induced weight gain in first-episode schizophrenia patients: A double-blind placebo-controlled pilot study'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this