Project Summary

Peter A. Fahnestock, M.D. (Young Investigator 2006) of Washington University, will study the effects of antipsychotics on caloric intake and activity level in schizophrenia to understand how these drugs contribute to obesity in these patients. This project aims to use doubly-labeled water (DLW) to quantify treatment-induced changes in energy intake (EI) and activity energy expenditure (AEE) in schizophrenia patients during 12 weeks of prospective, randomized treatment with either olanzapine or ziprasidone. The project hypothesizes that olanzapine-treated subjects will demonstrate greater increases in EI and decreases in AEE over time vs. ziprasidone-treated subjects. Ziprasidone does not have the weight-gain side effect that olanzapine does. The relative magnitude of these changes will be assessed. Measurements will be performed in a subset of olanzapine- and ziprasdione-treated subjects from an ongoing federally funded study of the metabolic effects of antipsychotics. This pilot study will utilize the resources of the study to assess DLW techniques in the context of a well-designed controlled clinical trial.

Program Area: SCHIZOPHRENIA/PSYCHOTIC DISORDERS\Schizophrenia

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