Are antipsychotic drugs effective for treating anorexia nervosa (AN)?
This is the question that pushed two researchers to carry out an experimental study published in 2012 and entitled: " Are antipsychotics effective for the treatment of anorexia nervosa? Results from a systematic review and meta-analysis ”.
The aim of the research was the evaluation of the therapeutic utility of certain antipsychotic drugs aimed at increasing body weight and improving psychopathology in certain comorbidities in anorexia nervosa.
The work included 8 studies with an average duration of 7-12 weeks which examined 221 patients suffering from anorexia nervosa (219 females and 3 males) with an average age of 22.5 years. Subjects were randomly assigned olanzapine, quetiapine, risperidone, pimozide, sulpiride (first analysis group), or placebo / routine care (second analysis group).
Both individually and as a whole, antipsychotic drugs (compared to placebo / usual care) did not have positive effects on the weight and Body Mass Index (BMI) of the patients examined.
Moreover, the antipsychotic complex and the traditional placebo / cure were not different even on the scores obtained from the questionnaires completed by the patients, related to anorexia nervosa, body shape, depressive symptoms and anxiety.
Individually, quetiapine appears to have improved the traditional / placebo treatment with regard to eating disorders and anxiety.
The rate of indiscriminate withdrawal or due to specific adverse events was similar in both groups, while the sense of somnolence / sedation was significantly greater for the group of antipsychotics than for the placebo / usual care.
However, it is likely that most of the side effects caused by treatment with antipsychotics have been reported by the subjects in an incomplete or ineffective manner.
In conclusion, while taking into consideration the limit of the modest research sample, this meta-analysis failed to demonstrate the antipsychotic efficacy of the aforementioned drugs on body weight and on the consequent pathological remission in women with anorexia nervosa.
