Obesity Drug Doesn’t Benefit Teens’ Hearts

A new study on the effects of a well known obesity drug has found that it gives little benefit in terms of blood pressure and pulse rate when used in adolescents. The study was conducted by Dr. Stephen R. Daniels and colleagues from the University of Colorado School of Medicine.

The researchers studied the effects of the weight-loss drug sibutramine, which is marketed under the brand names Meridia or Reductil. They were prompted by a number of reports that claimed sibutramine was actually connected with increase in blood pressure and pulse rate when used in adults.

Dr. Daniels and colleagues studied nearly 500 obese adolescents to analyse the effects of sibutramine treatment on their heart health. The subjects were randomly placed on a combined treatment of sibutramine & behavioural therapy and a placebo.

The average body-mass index (BMI) of the patients at the beginning of the study was 36. After a year, those on sibutramine saw an average BMI drop of 2.9 points. In comparison those subjects who had received an inactive “placebo” pill had shed only 0.3 points off the BMI.

Additionally the researchers found that all subjects on sibutramine also had small decreases in their blood pressure and pulse rate. “Small (average) decreases in blood pressure and pulse rate were seen in both sibutramine and placebo groups,” reported the researchers in the journal Pediatrics. However, highest changes were seen in those who lost most amount of weight.

“Overall there were only minor cardiovascular effects related to the treatment with sibutramine,” Dr. Daniels said. “However, it is important to recognize that this is only one study and that more data would be useful to more clearly define both the efficacy and the safety of sibutramine in young patients.”

“It is not clear why blood pressure and heart rate respond differently to treatment with sibutramine in adolescents compared with adults,” the researcher said. “I personally still see the use of sibutramine in adolescents more in the research realm than the clinical realm,” Dr. Daniels added.

“Behavioral therapy is still the mainstay of treatment in younger patients,” he said. In his opinion, the drug treatment should be reserved for those who are more severely obese and also have disorders related to obesity; those “in whom behavioral methods have been seriously tried and have failed.”

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