Article Text
Abstract
Objective To examine the association between antidepressant use and weight gain, as well as the interaction with lifestyle factors.
Design Longitudinal study.
Setting and participants We used data from 2334 adults from two stages (4.4 years apart) of the North West Adelaide Health Study, including validated diet and lifestyle questionnaires, measured body weight and linked pharmaceutical prescription data.
Main outcome measures Body weight change.
Results 188 (8.1%) participants had a mean annual number of 1–2 antidepressant prescriptions, and 212 (9.1%) had over two prescriptions. The mean annual weight gain was 0.12, 0.18 and 0.28 kg in non-users, low (1–2 prescriptions/year) and high (>2 prescriptions/year) antidepressant users, respectively. In multivariable regression models, antidepressant use was positively associated with weight gain: high antidepressant users gained an extra 0.22 (95% CI 0.00 to 0.44) kg per year. This association was mainly due to selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) use. High SSRI users gained 0.48 (95% CI 0.20 to 0.76) kg more than non-users. There was no association between tricyclic or other antidepressant use and weight gain. The association between SSRI use and weight gain was stronger among those with high intake of Western diet, greater sedentary activity, and who smoked.
Conclusions SSRIs use was associated with weight gain in the presence of unhealthy behaviours including Western diet, sedentarism and smoking.
- Antidepressant
- cohort study
- body weight
- dietary patterns
- smoking
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Footnotes
Contributors ZS contributed to the conception, analysis and interpretation of data; drafting of the report and have given approval of the final version for publication. EA, AWT, TKG, KP, SA, MLW and JL contributed to analysis and interpretation of the data, commented on the report, revising the manuscript and approving the final version for publication.
Competing interests None declared.
Patient consent Obtained.
Ethics approval Queen Elizabeth Hospital Human Research Committee.
Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.
Data sharing statement Data from the North West Adelaide Healthy Study (NWAHS) were accessed from a third party. The authors confirm that for approved reasons, some access restrictions apply to the data underlying the findings. To gain access to the data for this manuscript, ethics approval was sought and granted. Enquiries regarding requests for the NWAHS data can be directed to Prof Robert Adams, Principal Investigator (Clinical) (robert.adams@adelaide.edu.au).