Weight Changes in Lithium Responders

Kerry, R. J.; Liebling, L. I.; Owen, G.

doi:10.1111/j.1600-0447.1970.tb02116.x

Cited by 46 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 15 publications

(6 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…It has previously been noted (20,21) that the body weight does not continue to rise during lithium treatment; it reaches a plateau, where it remains during continued treatment. This was confirmed in the present study, which also revealed that the weight increase took place already during the first 1 to 2 years of the treatment, most of it within the first 6 months.…”

Section: Weight Gainmentioning

confidence: 95%

Prospective studies on a lithium cohort

Vestergaard

Poulstrup

Schou

1988

Acta Psychiatr Scand

116

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

A cohort of manic-depressive patients given prophylactic lithium treatment were examined before treatment started and at intervals during treatment for up to 7 years. The mean lithium dosage was 23.2 mmol/d and the mean serum lithium concentration 0.68 mmol/l. About 40% of the patients were entirely free of side effects, as compared with 10% among patients treated previously with higher lithium doses and serum lithium concentrations. Tremor complaints were presented by 5% of the patients before and by 15% during lithium treatment. The frequency fell with continued treatment, and after a few years it was not higher than before treatment started. Tremor complaints were positively correlated with age and with the use of neuroleptics and antidepressants. The tremorigenic effects of lithium and antidepressants seemed to potentiate each other. Tremor complaints were more frequent at serum lithium levels over than under 0.7 mmol/l. Body weight increased during the first 1-2 years of lithium treatment and then remained constant. The average gain was 4 kg. Weight gain was positively correlated with the patients' body weight before treatment and with the concurrent administration of antidepressant drugs. The frequency of diarrhea complaints (loose stools, defecation urge) rose from 1% to 6% during the first 6 months of lithium treatment and then leveled off. The frequency rose steeply at serum lithium values over 0.8 mmol/l. During lithium administration about one tenth of the patients had psychological complaints, which might or might not have been caused by the treatment: memory impairment and concentrating difficulty, tiredness and "greyness of life", in a few cases altered taste or lowered libido and potency.

show abstract

Section: Weight Gainmentioning

confidence: 95%

Prospective studies on a lithium cohort

Vestergaard

Poulstrup

Schou

1988

Acta Psychiatr Scand

116

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One relatively common side effect in long-term lithium treatment is weight gain (Schou etal. 1970: Kerry et a/. 1970O'Connell 1971;Mellerup et a/.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Increased body water has been reported (Coppen et al 1965;Coppen & Shaw 1967; Mangoni et a/. 1970) but most authors indicate that the weight gain is due to increase in solid tissues (Kerry et al 1970;O'Connell 1971). N o reports about body composition in lithium treated animals with increased weight gain has appeared.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Weight Gain and Body Composition in Lithium Treated Rats

Vendsborg

1980

Acta Pharmacologica et Toxicologica

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Long-term lithium treated growing animals given 0.8-2.0 mmol/kg/day had a slightly hut significantly faster weight gain than control animals. Greater doses did not give rise to significantly increased weight gain. Body composition, i.e., the percentage of water, fat, ash and "protein" was not affected in the faster growing lithium treated animals. The wet weight and the weight after drying of the stomach (with content) was increased shortly (hours) after the acute administration of lithium. The duration of the effect depended on the dose given. The weight of the large Intestine was also increased after a dose of lithium, but only after some days of lithium pretreatment and mainly the wet weight. The effect was small but similar on the small intestine. In long-term lithium treated rats did the faecal weight and volume increase mainly due to increased water content, but only after some days of lithium treatment.

show abstract

“…This side effect of long-term lithium administration to manic-depressive patients has been studied by several workers (1,2), whereas no attempts have been made to investigate whether a similar effect could be seen in animal experiments; on the contrary, some reports state that rats lost weight during chronic lithium treatment. The latter finding is unexpected in view of the effects of lithium on intermediary metabolism (3,4), which might provide the basis for a weight gain rather than a weight loss.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%