[Patients with type III obesity given sibutramine 15 mg/day lose weight in amounts proportional to those in types I and II, but waist circumferences does not decrease proportionally].
OBJECTIVE
The etiology, comorbidity, metabolism, and treatment response vary among overweight and obesity types I, II and III individuals. We assessed the association between obesity type with body mass index, waist circumference and tolerance to a daily dose of 15 mg of sibutramine.


METHODS
A sample of 701 individuals recruited from 47 health centers was analyzed. All subjects received 15 mg of sibutramine daily for 8 weeks. Weight, height, and waist circumference were measured at day 0 and weeks 4 and 8.


RESULTS
Patients in all obesity types lost proportional amounts of weight (p=0.86), but those in type IIl obesity had a smaller reduction in waist circumference than those in types I and 1 (p=0.003). Side effects of sibutramine were rarely observed. Subjects with type III obesity exhibited even fewer side effects.


CONCLUSIONS
The lack of association between weight reduction and decreased waist circumference across obesity types could be related to differences in the sympathetic nervous system or to sibutramine biodistribution. Subjects with body mass index greater than 40 Kg/ m(2) required a higher dose of sibutramine in order to loose the same proportion of abdominal fat as those in other types of obesity.
López-Alvarenga
Juan Carlos
JC
Department of Genetics, Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research, San Antonio, Texas, USA. jalvaren@darwin.sfbr.org
Vargas
José Antonio
JA
Schneider-Ehrenberg
Oliver Paul
OP
Comuzzie
Anthony G
AG
González
Jorge
J
Martínez
José Luis
JL
D050153:Abdominal Fat / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001067:Appetite Depressants / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003503:Cyclobutanes / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000145:classification / Q000188:drug therapy*; D050177:Overweight; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D049629:Waist-Hip Ratio; D015431:Weight Loss
D001067:Appetite Depressants; D003503:Cyclobutanes; C058254:sibutramine