title: Usage, risk, and benefit of weight-loss drugs in primary care.
abstract: Purpose. To investigate the use of the weight-loss drugs rimonabant, sibutramine, and orlistat in primary care and to characterize the patients receiving the drugs. Methods. In this retrospective, descriptive study, 300 randomly selected patients having started weight-loss drug treatment at 15 primary care centres were investigated using the patient's medical records and their complete drug purchase data. Results. Even though 48% of the patients specifically demanded drug treatment, 77% continued treatment less than one year. 28% of rimonabant patients and 32% of sibutramine patients had a history of depression or antidepressant treatment. 41% of sibutramine patients had a history of hypertension and/or cardiovascular disease. 36% had no documented weight after treatment initiation. Conclusions. These results suggest that weight-loss drug treatment was often initiated upon patient request but was of limited clinical benefit as it was managed in a large portion of Swedish primary carecenters.
authors.affiliation: Gröndal Primary Care Centre, P. O. Box 470 43, 100 74 Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Forslund
authors.forename: Pauline
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Raaschou
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hjemdahl
authors.forename: Ingvar
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Krakau
authors.forename: Björn
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wettermark