Mobility for All?

Substantial numbers of children and adolescents are treated with second-generation antipsychotic medications (SGAs), and the cardiometabolic adverse effects of this medication class have raised concerns. In the October 2017 issue of the Journal, Handen et al. published a 16-week open-label extension study of youth 6 to 17 years of age with autism spectrum disorder treated with liquid metformin after a 16-week double-blinded, placebo-controlled clinical efficacy trial. The acute-phase and open-label extension trials demonstrated that liquid metformin was well tolerated, and significant improvements in body mass index z-scores were observed in the metformin-metformin and placebo-metformin groups. Handen et al. concluded that metformin can be effective for decreasing weight gain associated with SGA use and maintaining prior improvement in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorder.