We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Weight Outcomes Among Antidepressant Users in Nursing Facilities.
- Authors
Rigler, Sally K.; Webb, Melissa J.; Redford, Linda; Brown, Edward F.; Zhou, Jinshi; Wallace, Dennis
- Abstract
OBJECTIVES: Depression is a common and treatable condition among nursing facility residents, with low body weight being a frequent concomitant concern. A common prescribing dictum is that older tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) enhance appetite and may facilitate weight gain, while newer selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) cause anorexia and resultant weight loss in older adults. Evidence is lacking on whether the small weight changes noted during short-term antidepressant efficacy trials translate into larger weight changes during prolonged treatment periods. Our main objective was to compare weight outcomes at 6 months among users of three different antidepressant groups with a control group of non-antidepressant users. A secondary objective was to determine whether antidepressant selection was associated with weight pattern before drug initiation, to capture possible prescribing bias that would affect study inferences. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort design using the Minimum Data Set—Plus (MDS+). SETTING: Kansas nursing facilities. PARTICIPANTS: 1157 antidepressant users age 65 and older who started an antidepressant after admission and remained on the same single agent for at least 6 months, and 4852 persons meeting the same inclusion/exclusion criteria but not receiving an antidepressant. MEASUREMENTS: Antidepressant use was identified by drug code data and divided into four groups for analysis: TCAs, SSRIs, others, and none. (Amitriptyline and trazodone were excluded because of frequent use for nondepression purposes.) Rates of clinically important loss and gain (assigned for a 10% change from baseline weight or presence of the significant loss or gain markers on the 6-month MDS assessment) and mean weight changes were compared across the four groups. Regression models were used to control for age, gender, baseline weight, confounding comorbidity, and functional variables related to eating. Previous weight patterns (loss, gain, neither, or...
- Subjects
ANTIDEPRESSANTS; NURSING care facilities; WEIGHT loss
- Publication
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 2001, Vol 49, Issue 1, p49
- ISSN
0002-8614
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1046/j.1532-5415.2001.49009.x