Weight gain and metabolic disturbances, potentially influenced by increased appetite, are common effects of olanzapine treatment in patients with schizophrenia. In this study, we explored the association between olanzapine-induced weight gain and metabolic effects with increased appetite. Drug-naïve, first-episode schizophrenia patients were treated with olanzapine for 12 weeks. Assessments included time to increased appetite, body weight, body mass index, biochemical indicators of blood glucose and lipids, proportion of patients who gained more than 7% or 10% of their baseline weight upon treatment conclusion, patients who developed dyslipidemia, and Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale scores. In total, 33 patients with schizophrenia receiving olanzapine were enrolled and 31 completed the study. During the 12-week olanzapine treatment, 77.4% (24/31) patients had increased appetite with 58.1% (18/31) patients having increased appetite within the first 4 weeks. The mean time for increased appetite was 20.3 days. More patients in the increased appetite group increased their initial body weight by more than 7% after 12 weeks when compared to patients with unchanged appetite (22/24 [91.7%] vs. 3/7 [42.9%], p = 0.004). Earlier increased appetite led to more weight gain during the following month. Overall, 50% of patients in the increased appetite group had dyslipidemia after 12 weeks. Our results demonstrated that olanzapine induced significantly appetite increase in first-episode patients with schizophrenia and appetite increase played a key role in olanzapine-induced weight gain and dyslipidemia.

Background: Schizophrenia is a severe mental disease which characterized by positive symptom, negative symptom, general pathology syndrome and cognitive deficits. In recent years, many studies have investigated the relationship between cognitive deficits and clinical characteristics in schizophrenia, but relatively few studies have been performed on first-episode drug-naïve patients.Methods: Eighty seven first-episode drug-naïve schizophrenia patients were assessed for positive symptom, negative symptom, general pathology symptom and cognitive deficits from the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale and MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery. Psychotics depression were assessed using the Calgary depressing scale for schizophrenia. The relationship between clinical characteristics and cognitive deficits were assessed using correlation analysis and linear regression analysis.Results: The prevalence of cognitive deficits among the patients in our study was 85.1% (74/87) which was much higher than that in the general population. According to correlation analysis, negative symptom was negatively correlated with speed of processing and social cognition, and general pathology showed a negative correlation with attention/vigilance. In addition, a positive correlation was found between age and speed of processing. No correlation was found between cognitive deficits and positive symptom.Conclusions: This study confirmed that negative symptom is negatively related with some domains of cognitive function in first-episode drug naïve schizophrenia patients.Trail Registration: NCT03451734. Registered March 2, 2018 (retrospectively registered).

Background Atypical antipsychotic medications, which are effective for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, are associated with features of metabolic syndrome, such as weight gain, hyperglycemia, dyslipidemia, and insulin resistance. Although there are a few studies on the effects of dietary fiber or probiotics on weight loss in obese people, no published trials have reported the efficacy of dietary fiber and probiotics on reducing atypical antipsychotic-induced weight gain. Methods For this 12-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 100 patients with a weight gain of more than 10% after taking atypical antipsychotic medications were recruited. Participants were randomized to four groups as follows: probiotics (840 mg twice daily (bid)) plus dietary fiber (30 g bid), probiotics (840 mg bid) plus placebo, placebo plus dietary fiber (30 g bid), or placebo group. The primary outcome was the change in body weight. Secondary outcomes included changes in metabolic syndrome parameters, appetite score, biomarkers associated with a change in weight, and gut microbiota composition and function. Discussion To date, this is the first randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded trial investigating the efficacy of dietary fiber and probiotics alone and in combination to reduce metabolic side effects induced by atypical antipsychotic medications. If effective, it is possible to conclude that dietary fiber and probiotics can reduce atypical antipsychotic-induced metabolic side effects. Trial registration number ClinicalTrials.gov NCT03379597. Registered on 19 November 2017.