Bipolar Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Bipolar, including details on bipolar disorder, symptoms, treatment, depression, medication.

Topiramate in adolescents with juvenile bipolar disorder presenting weight gain due to atypical antipsychotics or mood stabilizers: an open clinical trial.

Tramontina S, Zeni CP, Pheula G, Rohde LA

Child Psychopharmacology Outpatient Clinic, Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Background: Many children and adolescents with bipolar disorder (BD) do not adhere to the pharmacological treatment due to weight gain. This investigation aims to describe response, side effects, and weight changes in a sample of youths with BPD while receiving topiramate for 11 weeks during the treatment maintenance phase. Methods: Ten consecutive outpatients with BPD (11-17 years) using a single mood stabilizer and/or an antipsychotic presenting weight gain over 5% of their baseline weight were enrolled in this 11-week protocol. Their medication was switched to topiramate during the first 4 weeks. The Young Mania Rating Scale (Y-MRS) was the main outcome measure to assess response to the treatment in a weekly basis. Side effects and weight were also assessed weekly. Results: In repeated-measure analysis of variance (ANOVA), we found a significant reduction in both the YMRS scores (F = 10.21; p ,0.01) and in weight (F = 8.04; p ,0.01) during the trial. Conclusions: These initial findings suggesting antimaniac effects for topiramate during the treatment maintenance phase associated with weight reductions indicate the need of randomized clinical trials assessing this clinical relevant issue.

Published 8 March 2007 in J Child Adolesc Psychopharmacol, 17(1): 129-34.
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