Metformin for Lithium-induced Weight Gain: A Case Report
Abstract
Lithium is the first line treatment for maintenance treatment of bipolar disorder. Among the long term adverse effects, weight gain is likely to affect a subset of patients. There is no specific guideline for the treatment of lithium-induced weight gain. We report a young male with bipolar disorder who had significant weight gain with lithium (25 kg), which responded to metformin treatment at 500 mg twice daily. The proposed mechanism of weight lowering effect of metformin includes changes in hypo-thalamic physiology, including leptin and insulin sensitivity, as well as circadian rhythm changes affecting food intake, regulation of fat oxidation and storage in liver, skeletal muscle, and adipose tissue.
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a case report, done in people. Its evidence level is 5 of 5 (Very low · case / narrative / animal / in vitro / in silico). Case reports, narrative reviews, and animal, cell or computer-model studies give the weakest evidence for human health.
Read the paper
Related studies
- Metformin as an adjuvant in breast cancer treatment
- Metformin Lysosomal Targeting: A Novel Aspect to Be Investigated for Metformin Repurposing in Neurodegenerative Diseases?
- Aberrant HSF1 signaling activation underlies metformin amelioration of myocardial infarction in mice
- Metformin induces ZFP36 by mTORC1 inhibition in cervical cancer-derived cell lines
- Protein Interaction Network for Identifying Vascular Response of Metformin (Oral Antidiabetic)
- Preventing Long COVID With Metformin
Go deeper in Evidence Hub
Evidence Hub adds a study data sheet (design, sample size, evidence level, key numbers), an AI summary and a chat grounded in the paper's text.