The role of sibutramine in weight reduction

The effectiveness of pharmacologic support with sibutramine along with the preservation of dietary and regimen measures is shown in a group of long-term treated patients at the Metabolic Clinic of the University Hospital in Hradec Králové.

In ambulatory patients, basic anthropometric parameters as body weight, BMI, waist circumference and the total amount of adipose tissue were compared before substitution with 10 mg sibutramine and after a four-month therapy. This group included 94 patients who were administered the same dose of sibutramine for the whole period of time. This group consisted of 37 men and 57 women.

After a four-month therapy with sibutramine there was a mean reduction in weight by 7.9 ± 3.8 kg in the monitored group of patients. Their BMI was reduced by 2.3 ± 1.5 kg/height2 and the waist circumference by 4.4 ± 3.8 cm. The decrease in the percentage of the total body lipid was 2.9 %.

Despite a surprising decision of the European Drug Agency to suspend the registration of sibutramine in the whole of Europe since January 2010 we can state that in our patients we have proven a positive effect of sibutramine substitution on their weight reduction (Tab. 1, Ref. 19).