Treatment of antipsychotic-associated obesity with a GLP-1 receptor agonist--protocol for an investigator-initiated prospective, randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blinded intervention study: the TAO study protocol

Antipsychotic medication is widely associated with dysmetabolism including obesity and type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular-related diseases and early death. Obesity is considered the single most important risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Interventions against antipsychotic-associated obesity are limited and insufficient. Glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists are approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, but their bodyweight-lowering effects have also been recognised in patients with non-diabetes. The primary endpoint of this trial is weight loss after 3 months of treatment with a GLP-1 receptor agonist (exenatide once weekly) in patients with non-diabetic schizophrenia with antipsychotic-associated obesity. Secondary endpoints include physiological and metabolic measurements, various psychopathological and cognitive measures, and structural and functional brain MRI.