A longitudinal study on the impact of antipsychotic treatment on serum leptin in schizophrenia

The study objective was to explore the biological basis for link between antipsychotic-induced weight gain and therapeutic response in schizophrenia by examining longitudinal changes in serum leptin level after antipsychotic treatment.

We examined serum leptin in schizophrenia patients at antipsychotic-naive baseline status as well as after 3 months of antipsychotic treatment. For baseline analyses, the patients were compared with healthy controls matched for anthropometric measures and physical activity.

At baseline, schizophrenia patients had significantly lower levels of leptin in comparison with controls. After treatment, body mass index and levels of leptin increased significantly in patients. The magnitude of increase in leptin had a significant positive correlation with magnitude of increase in body mass index; the magnitude of reduction in SANS total score showed significant positive correlation with the magnitude of increase in leptin level.

The study findings suggest a potential role for leptin to mediate the link between antipsychotic-induced weight gain and beneficial therapeutic response in schizophrenia.