(Press-News.org) Bottom Line: Modest differences exist between antidepressants with regard to weight gain among patients.
Authors: Sarah R. Blumenthal, B.S., Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, and colleagues.
Background: Previous work has suggested an association between antidepressant use and weight gain. The potential health consequences could be significant because more than 10 percent of Americans are prescribed an antidepressant at any given time. Obesity is associated with a host of medical conditions, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
How the Study Was Conducted: Electronic health records from a large New England health care system were used to collect prescribing data and recorded weights for adult patients (age 18 to 65 years) prescribed one of 11 common antidepressants.
Results: The authors identified 22,610 adults _ 19,244 adults treated with an antidepressant for at least three months and 3,366 who received a nonpsychiatric intervention. Compared with the antidepressant citalopram, patients treated with bupropion, amitriptyline and nortriptyline had a decreased rate of weight gain.
Discussion: "Taken together, our results clearly demonstrate significant differences between several individual antidepressant strategies in their propensity to contribute to weight gain. While the absolute magnitude of such differences is relatively modest, these differences may lead clinicians to prefer certain treatments according to patient preference or in individuals for whom weight gain is a particular concern."
INFORMATION:
(JAMA Psychiatry. Published online June 4, 2014. doi:10.1001/jamapsychiatry.2014.414. Available pre-embargo to the media at http://media.jamanetwork.com.)
Editor's Note: Authors made conflict of interest disclosures. The project was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health. Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, financial disclosures, funding and support, etc.
Media Advisory: To contact corresponding author Roy H. Perlis, M.D., M.Sc., call Michael Morrison at 617-724-6425 or email mdmorrison@partners.org.
Weight gain following antidepressant use examined
2014-06-04
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Deppression with atypical features associated with obesity
2014-06-04
Bottom Line: Major depressive disorder (MDD) with atypical features (including mood reactivity where people can feel better when positive things happen in life, increased appetite or weight gain) appears to be associated with obesity.
Authors: Aurélie M. Lasserre, M.D., of Lausanne University Hospital, Switzerland, and colleagues.
Background: MDD has tremendous public health impact worldwide. Obesity is another burden for public health. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the association between MDD and obesity is important.
How the Study Was Conducted: The ...
Two JAMA Surgery studies examine bariatric surgery for type 2 diabetes treatment
2014-06-04
Bottom Line: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery resulted in the greatest average weight and appears to be the best treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) compared to gastric banding and lifestyle intervention in a clinical trial that also highlights the challenges to completing a larger trial with patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 to 40.
Author: Anita P. Courcoulas, M.D., M.P.H., of the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and colleagues.
Background: Questions remain unanswered about the role of bariatric surgery in the treatment of T2DM, including ...
Sea star disease epidemic surges in Oregon, local extinctions expected
2014-06-04
CORVALLIS, Ore. – Just in the past two weeks, the incidence of sea star wasting syndrome has exploded along the Oregon Coast and created an epidemic of historic magnitude, one that threatens to decimate Oregon's entire population of purple ochre sea stars.
Prior to this, Oregon had been the only part of the West Coast that had been largely spared this devastating disease.
The ochre sea star, which is the species most heavily affected by the disease in the intertidal zone, may be headed toward localized extinction in Oregon, according to researchers at Oregon State University ...
Are squiggly lines the future of password security?
2014-06-04
VIDEO:
As more people use smart phones or tablets to pay bills, make purchases, store personal information and even control access to their houses, the need for robust password security has...
Click here for more information.
As more people use smart phones or tablets to pay bills, make purchases, store personal information and even control access to their houses, the need for robust password security has become more critical than ever.
A new Rutgers University study shows that ...
Disinfection caps successful in CLABSI prevention
2014-06-04
Thanks to the simple use of an alcohol-impregnated cap, Loyola University Medical Center achieved a 68 percent decrease in the overall number of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) over a 12-month period. A two-year study compared the use of disinfection caps to an intense scrub-the-hub intervention to standard care. Scrub-the-hub refers to cleaning catheter connector hubs and injection ports with alcohol for the recommended 15 seconds before accessing the central line, a catheter placed in a large vein to deliver medicine and liquids during hospitalization. ...
Genetics provide blueprint for new heart disease therapies
2014-06-04
PHILADELPHIA — Advances in the understanding of the genetics of coronary artery disease, or CAD, will revitalize the field and lead to more therapeutic targets for new medicines to combat this common disease, suggests a genetics expert from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania in a Perspective article in the new issue of Science Translational Medicine.
Daniel J. Rader, MD, chair of the Department of Genetics and associate director of the Institute for Translational Medicine and Therapeutics, asserts that the lagging search for new heart medicines ...
UCLA researchers identify new gene involved in Parkinson's disease
2014-06-04
A team of UCLA researchers has identified a new gene involved in Parkinson's disease, a finding that may one day provide a target for a new drug to prevent and potentially even cure the debilitating neurological disorder.
Parkinson's disease is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder after Alzheimer's disease, and there is no cure for the progressive and devastating illness. About 60,000 Americans are diagnosed with Parkinson's disease each year. It is estimated that as many as 1 million Americans live with Parkinson's disease, which is more than the number ...
Drones give farmers an eye in the sky to check on crop progress
2014-06-04
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — This growing season, crop researchers at the University of Illinois are experimenting with the use of drones – unmanned aerial vehicles – on the university's South Farms.
Dennis Bowman, a crop sciences educator with U. of I. Extension, is using two drones to take aerial pictures of crops growing in research plots on the farms. He presented his findings to farmers and other researchers at the 2014 Ford / Iroquois County Agronomy Day meeting.
Bowman intentionally made mistakes on one test plot – "areas where we didn't apply enough nitrogen fertilizer, ...
Increase in number of total knee replacement surgeries, especially in younger adults, linked to obesity
2014-06-04
ROSEMONT, Ill.─The number of total knee replacement (TKR) surgeries more than tripled between 1993 and 2009, while the number of total hip replacements (THR) doubled during the same time period. A study appearing in the June Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery (JBJS) found that an increase in the prevalence of ovrweight and obesity in the U.S. accounted for 95 percent of the higher demand for knee replacements, with younger patients affected to a greater degree.
"We observed that growth of knee replacement volumes was far outpacing that of hip replacements and were ...
Surprisingly strong magnetic fields challenge black holes' pull
2014-06-04
A new study of supermassive black holes at the centers of galaxies has found magnetic fields play an impressive role in the systems' dynamics. In fact, in dozens of black holes surveyed, the magnetic field strength matched the force produced by the black holes' powerful gravitational pull, says a team of scientists from the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (MPIfR) in Bonn, Germany. The findings are published in this week's issue of Nature.
"This paper for the first time systematically ...