What are the effects of fluoxetine treatment in overweight or obese adults?

Fluoxetine is a medicine used for the treatment of depression, which reduces appetite as a side effect. Therefore, it is suspected that fluoxetine could be used as a treatment for overweight or obese people. In this group of people administration of fluoxetine means an off-label treatment which means it is not licensed for treating obesity.The authors identified 19 randomised controlled trials (clinical studies where people are randomly put into one of two or more treatment groups) evaluating mainly women receiving different doses of fluoxetine. A total of 1280 overweight or obese participants received fluoxetine and 936 participants received mainly  placebo or another anti-obesity medication. The participants in the included studies were followed up for periods varying between three weeks and one year.For our main comparison group — fluoxetine compared with placebo — and for all fluoxetine doses there was a 2.7 kg weight loss in favour of fluoxetine. The authors are uncertain, however, if an additional study would show a benefit for fluoxetine again. A total of 399 out of 627 participants (63.6%) receiving fluoxetine compared with 352 out of 626 participants (56.2%) receiving placebo experienced a side effect. Dizziness, drowsiness, fatigue, insomnia and nausea were observed approximately twice as often after fluoxetine compared to placebo. A total of 15 out of 197 participants (7.6%) receiving fluoxetine comp ared with 12 out of 196 participants (6.1%) receiving...
Source: Cochrane News and Events - Category: Information Technology Authors: Source Type: news