Aripiprazole-induced sleep-related eating disorder: a case report

Sleep-related eating disorder is characterized by parasomnia with recurrent episodes of nocturnal eating or drinking during the main sleep period. Several drugs, including atypical antipsychotics, induce sleep-related eating disorder. However, aripiprazole has not previously been associated with sleep-related eating disorder.

A 41-year-old Japanese man visited our clinic complaining of depression. The patient was treated with sertraline, which was titrated up to 100 mg for 4 weeks. A sleep inducer and an anxiolytic were coadministered. His depressive mood slightly improved, but it continued for an additional 4 months. Subsequently, aripiprazole (3 mg) was added as an adjunctive therapy. After 3 weeks, the patient’s mother found that the patient woke up and ate food at night. The next morning, the patient was amnesic for this event, felt full, and wondered why the bags of food were empty. This episode lasted for 2 days. The patient gained 5 kg during these 3 weeks. After the aripiprazole dose was reduced to 1.5 mg, the patient’s nocturnal eating episodes rapidly and completely disappeared.

To the best of our knowledge, this is first report of sleep-related eating disorder induced by aripiprazole, and it indicates that this disorder should be considered a possible side effect of aripiprazole. Although aripiprazole is used mainly in patients with schizophrenia, its recently documented use as an adjunctive therapy in patients with depression might induce hitherto unknown side effects.