PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Zumin Shi AU - Evan Atlantis AU - Anne W Taylor AU - Tiffany K Gill AU - Kay Price AU - Sarah Appleton AU - Ma-Li Wong AU - Julio Licinio TI - SSRI antidepressant use potentiates weight gain in the context of unhealthy lifestyles: results from a 4-year Australian follow-up study AID - 10.1136/bmjopen-2017-016224 DP - 2017 Aug 01 TA - BMJ Open PG - e016224 VI - 7 IP - 8 4099 - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/8/e016224.short 4100 - http://bmjopen.bmj.com/content/7/8/e016224.full SO - BMJ Open2017 Aug 01; 7 AB - 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.