Imipramine and weight gain during the treatment of recurrent depression

Weight change was examined in 128 depressed outpatients treated successfully with an average dose of 215 mg imipramine and then continued on that treatment regimen for 5 additional months, an average duration of over 33 weeks. More than half the patients experienced a change in weight of 5% or less and only 13.3% experienced a gain of greater than 10%. While males and females did not differ in their pattern of change during acute treatment, females experienced a greater percent change (P less than 0.06) and change in body mass index (P = 0.05) during continuation treatment. The clinical implications of these findings are discussed, especially with respect to the extreme group.