New Medical Evidence Is Presented In March 2014 That Suggests Adolescent Males And Boys Can Develop Breasts Due To Their Use Of Risperdal Or Invega
(Posted by Tom Lamb at DrugInjuryWatch.com)
Risperdal (risperidone) is a popular antipsychotic drug used in both younger and older adults. Recent medical reports have alluded to an increase in the risk of gynecomastia (enlargement of male breasts) with Risperdal use.
Several case reports with gynecomastia being diagnosed in the setting of Risperdal use have been received by the FDA, also. Although case reports have alluded to this link between Risperdal and gynecomastia, or male breasts, we know that case reports alone cannot show a causal link between Risperdal and gynecomastia. Rather, large epidemiologic studies are needed to confirm this Risperdal - male breasts link.
At this year’s American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry (AAGP) meeting in Orlando, on March 15, 2014, Dr. Mahyar Etminan, an epidemiologist at the University of British Columbia, presented data on a study he has led that looked at the risk of older men developing gynecomastia due to their use of Risperdal (risperidone) or Invega (paliperidone -- which is an active metabolite of risperidone).
Having access to a large health claims database of approximately one million men in the United States, Dr. Etminan identified those older men who had been newly diagnosed with gynecomastia. Specifically, he identified 8285 new cases of gynecomastia and 82,850 controls with no gynecomastia. After adjusting for potential confounding variables, Dr. Etminan found that men who used Risperdal or Invega had a 69% higher risk of developing male breasts / gynecomastia than non-users.
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Further, when compared to Zyprexa (olanzapine) or Seroquel (quetiapine) -- two chemically distinct antipsychotics -- Dr. Etminan determined those men who had used Risperdal were at a higher risk of developing gynecomastia (69%) than those who had used Zyprexa (40%) or Seroquel (41%).
Although the subjects in this recent medical study were older men, Dr. Etminan said he believes that this particular Invega and Risperdal side effect of developing male breasts can also occur in adolescent males, or young boys.
Based on his findings, Dr. Etminan concluded that physicians may want to prescribe Seroquel or Zyprexa to their male patients who may require antipsychotic therapy due to this Invega / Risperdal - male breasts side effect.
It is our understanding that the manuscript for this recent Invega / Risperdal study done by Dr. Etminan is currently under review by a peer review journal. Of course, we will update this post when this medical journal article is published.
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