Efficacy of fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine in the treatment of obesity: a meta-analysis.
A meta-analysis was conducted to estimate the difference of weight loss among patients treated with placebo and with fenfluramine or dexfenfluramine after 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months of treatment. Placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical trials, whose results were presented as weight loss by the placebo group and the drug-treated patient group, were selected for the analysis. For the pooled estimations, the method of the weighted means by the inverse of the variance was used. The association between the difference of means and several predictive variables was studied by means of weighted linear regression. Patients treated with fenfluramine or dexfenfluramine achieved a higher weight loss than those receiving placebo in all the periods studied. The greatest efficacy was observed after 3 months of treatment. Beyond this time, there is a decline in the effectiveness. Based on the efficacy data, treatments longer than 3 months would not be justified.
Carvajal
A
A
Instituto de Farmacoepidemiología, Universidad de Valladolid, Spain. carvajal@ife.med.uva.es
García del Pozo
J
J
Martín de Diego
I
I
Rueda de Castro
A M
AM
Velasco
A
A
D001067:Appetite Depressants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D020372:Dexfenfluramine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005277:Fenfluramine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D016239:MEDLINE; D009765:Obesity / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012044:Regression Analysis; D013997:Time Factors
D001067:Appetite Depressants; D005277:Fenfluramine; D020372:Dexfenfluramine