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Metformin for Adolescents With Autism Spectrum Disorder?
In some studies, metformin use has been shown to assist certain patients with weight loss.
A recent trial sought to harness this power for children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who were already taking atypical antipsychotics, which have been associated with weight gain.
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The trial was conducted for children over a period of 16 weeks at centers in Toronto, Canada; Columbus, Ohio; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Nashville, Tennessee. They enrolled 60 patients with an average age of 13 years. Three (11%) of the 28 patients in the metformin group experienced an 8% to 9% decline in their body mass index (BMI) score, while the remaining participants did not experience more than a 5% reduction in BMI.
“Metformin may be effective in decreasing weight gain associated with atypical antipsychotic use and is well tolerated by children and adolescents with ASD,” wrote the researchers, who published their findings in JAMA Psychiatry.
In April, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) revised its warning regarding metformin use. Instead of recommending against metformin use among all patients whose kidneys do not function normally, the FDA altered its warning to okay the use of metformin in some patients with mild to moderate kidney impairment, depending on glomerular filtration rate estimating equation (eGFR).
--Stephanie Vaccaro
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