Effects of Empagliflozin and Lifestyle Intervention on Improving Body Weight and Other Metabolic Parameters in Atypical Antipsychotics-treated Patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders — A Double-blind Randomized Placebo-controlled Trial
A diabetes drug combined with lifestyle support helped people with schizophrenia lose weight and improve blood sugar despite antipsychotic medications.
In this 16-week double-blind RCT, empagliflozin plus lifestyle intervention significantly improved weight, BMI, and glucose metabolism versus placebo in 52 overweight/obese schizophrenia patients on atypical antipsychotics. The findings suggest SGLT2 inhibitors may offer a practical, tolerable solution for antipsychotic-associated metabolic syndrome in a high-cardiovascular-risk, underserved psychiatric population.
What the study was
- Study design
- Double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial
- Population
- Overweight/obese adults with schizophrenia spectrum disorders on atypical antipsychotics (non-diabetic or pre-diabetic)
- Sample size
- 52
- Category
- Treatment Innovation
- Maturity
- Validated
- Journal
- Schizophrenia Bulletin
Why it surfaced
RCT evidence for SGLT2i use in psychiatry patients with antipsychotic-induced metabolic syndrome — a high-unmet-need and cardiovascular risk population. Small n=52 limits generalizability but design quality is strong (double-blind RCT). Near-term clinically implementable given SGLT2i availability.
A plain-language summary of published research — not medical advice. Talk to a clinician about your own care.