Research in Medicine

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Abstract Background: Changes in body weight are common in psychiatric patients. This study was done to investigate factors associated with weight changes in patients admitted in the psychiatric ward of Imam Hussein (AS) hospital. Methods: This was a cross-sectional study performed on 150 patients admitted to the psychiatric ward of Imam Hussein (AS) Hospital. Body weight of patients was documented on admission and after one month. Information about demographic characteristics, current diagnosis of patient, addiction, drugs, and housing, marital and economic status, history of diabetes, physical activity and sleep levels was collected through a self-administrated questionnaire. Independent t-test and correlation coefficient tests were utilized for data analysis. Results: Mean age of the subjects was 29.36 years with 35.3% males. Weight change was found to have significant relationship with the marital status, housing status, activity level, medical history and the following medications: clozapine, Alanzpyn, sertraline and tricyclic antidepressants (p < 0.05 in all instances). Conclusion: Anti- psychotic medications are not the sole triggers for changes in body weight Pre-admission social and economic factors such as marital status, housing and medical history, also contribute to weight change in psychiatric patients. Keywords: weight changes, inpatient psychiatry, psychiatric drugs, demographic factors, economic factors - social.