If you take psychiatric medicine, you gain weight?Development of AI-based side effect prediction model
Jun 12, 2025
When taking drugs to treat mental diseases such as depression, weight is often gained due to side effects. Globally, more than 60% of patients with severe mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and depression are overweight or obese, which is two to three times higher than the general population.
Some antipsychotic drugs, antidepressants, and mood regulators are known to cause weight gain and metabolic changes as side effects. However, even with the same psychiatric drug, the sensitivity to weight gain varies significantly from individual to individual, and it has been almost impossible to predict how much weight each patient gains depending on the drug or which obesity treatment is effective.
Meanwhile, a protocol study on the development of an artificial intelligence algorithm that can prevent and treat obesity by predicting the possibility of weight gain side effects caused by taking psychiatric drugs has recently been published, drawing attention.
Professor Kim Sun-mi and Professor Lee Hye-jun of Family Medicine at Chung-Ang University Hospital led a research team on the development of algorithms to predict the possibility of weight gain and the effectiveness of obesity treatments in severely mentally ill patients using artificial intelligence (AI) (Developing a machine learning algorithm to predict the effectiveness of predictive psychotropic drugs-indicated weight gain and the effectiveness of anti-observation drugs inpatients: A protocol for a prospective cohort study).
The research team evaluates the side effects of weight gain after administering mental drugs to patients with depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia for 24 weeks, maintains mental drugs for patients with obesity or pre-obesity (overweight), and measures body measurements, body composition, lifestyle, blood test levels, and psychological conditions after additional obesity treatments are administered for 24 weeks.
Based on the results of this analysis, the research team led by Kim Sun-mi and Lee Hye-joon announced that they will develop a patient-specific artificial intelligence algorithm to learn the amount of change that each psychiatric drug, obesity treatment, and combination of the two drugs cause on weight, obesity, and metabolic factors through an artificial intelligence (AI) deep learning model, and to predict the possibility of weight gain side effects of psychiatric drugs and the effect of obesity treatment.
This study is expected to predict the possibility of weight gain side effects of individual psychiatric drugs and the effects of obesity treatments by entering patient data such as body measurement and body composition, lifestyle, comorbidities and medications.
Professor Lee Hye-jun said "It is expected that the artificial intelligence algorithm to be developed based on this study will be able to select the optimal obesity treatment from the time the obesity treatment plan is established by referring to medical decision-making."Furthermore, we believe that patient-tailored treatment will improve obesity and prevent obesity complications including metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and cancer."
Professor Kim Sun-mi said, "We believe that the development of artificial intelligence algorithms through medical-engineering convergence research will enable us to select the optimal drug from the time we establish the treatment plan for mental illness. It is also expected that it will be beneficial for managing mental illness symptoms by improving long-term treatment compliance by effectively managing physical health by preventing obesity and obesity complications along with improving mental symptoms of mentally ill patients."," he said.
Professor Kim Sun-mi then added "This study is an innovative model for predicting the possibility of weight gain side effects and obesity treatment effects, and is expected to provide a new opportunity for AI-based psychiatric drug safety evaluation."
Meanwhile, this study by Professor Kim Sun-mi and Professor Lee Hye-joon of Chung-Ang University Hospital is being carried out with the support of the Medical Life Research Institute of Chung-Ang University Hospital, and the research plan paper is published in the latest issue of the SCIE-level international academic journal 'PLOS ONE" drawing attention for its methodological validity and innovation.
Some antipsychotic drugs, antidepressants, and mood regulators are known to cause weight gain and metabolic changes as side effects. However, even with the same psychiatric drug, the sensitivity to weight gain varies significantly from individual to individual, and it has been almost impossible to predict how much weight each patient gains depending on the drug or which obesity treatment is effective.
Meanwhile, a protocol study on the development of an artificial intelligence algorithm that can prevent and treat obesity by predicting the possibility of weight gain side effects caused by taking psychiatric drugs has recently been published, drawing attention.
Professor Kim Sun-mi and Professor Lee Hye-jun of Family Medicine at Chung-Ang University Hospital led a research team on the development of algorithms to predict the possibility of weight gain and the effectiveness of obesity treatments in severely mentally ill patients using artificial intelligence (AI) (Developing a machine learning algorithm to predict the effectiveness of predictive psychotropic drugs-indicated weight gain and the effectiveness of anti-observation drugs inpatients: A protocol for a prospective cohort study).
The research team evaluates the side effects of weight gain after administering mental drugs to patients with depression, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia for 24 weeks, maintains mental drugs for patients with obesity or pre-obesity (overweight), and measures body measurements, body composition, lifestyle, blood test levels, and psychological conditions after additional obesity treatments are administered for 24 weeks.
Based on the results of this analysis, the research team led by Kim Sun-mi and Lee Hye-joon announced that they will develop a patient-specific artificial intelligence algorithm to learn the amount of change that each psychiatric drug, obesity treatment, and combination of the two drugs cause on weight, obesity, and metabolic factors through an artificial intelligence (AI) deep learning model, and to predict the possibility of weight gain side effects of psychiatric drugs and the effect of obesity treatment.
This study is expected to predict the possibility of weight gain side effects of individual psychiatric drugs and the effects of obesity treatments by entering patient data such as body measurement and body composition, lifestyle, comorbidities and medications.
Professor Lee Hye-jun said "It is expected that the artificial intelligence algorithm to be developed based on this study will be able to select the optimal obesity treatment from the time the obesity treatment plan is established by referring to medical decision-making."Furthermore, we believe that patient-tailored treatment will improve obesity and prevent obesity complications including metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and cancer."
Professor Kim Sun-mi said, "We believe that the development of artificial intelligence algorithms through medical-engineering convergence research will enable us to select the optimal drug from the time we establish the treatment plan for mental illness. It is also expected that it will be beneficial for managing mental illness symptoms by improving long-term treatment compliance by effectively managing physical health by preventing obesity and obesity complications along with improving mental symptoms of mentally ill patients."," he said.
Professor Kim Sun-mi then added "This study is an innovative model for predicting the possibility of weight gain side effects and obesity treatment effects, and is expected to provide a new opportunity for AI-based psychiatric drug safety evaluation."
Meanwhile, this study by Professor Kim Sun-mi and Professor Lee Hye-joon of Chung-Ang University Hospital is being carried out with the support of the Medical Life Research Institute of Chung-Ang University Hospital, and the research plan paper is published in the latest issue of the SCIE-level international academic journal 'PLOS ONE" drawing attention for its methodological validity and innovation.
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This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
