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 amo ng patients treated with placebo and with fenfluramine or dexfenfluramine a fter 1, 2, 3, 6, and 12 months of treatment. Placebo-controlled double-blin d, 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 the variance was used. The association between the di fference of means and several predictive variables was studied by means of weighted linear regression. Patients treated with fenfluramine or dexfenflu ramine achieved a higher weight loss than those receiving placebo in ail th e periods studied. The greatest efficacy was observed after 3 months of tre atment. Beyond this rime, there is a decline in the effectiveness. Based on the efficacy data, treatments longer than 3 months would not be justified. (C) 2000 Prous Science. All rights reserved.