Weight Outcomes Among Antidepressant Users in Nursing Facilities

Abstract

TCAs do not facilitate weight gain more than other antidepressant groups and SSRIs are not associated disproportionately with weight loss when other important clinical variables are accounted for. Small but statistically significant differences in mean weight changes between groups are largely a reflection of large sample size rather than clinically important differences. Clinicians may wish to reconsider the widely held notions that TCAs facilitate weight gain and that SSRIs place depressed older nursing facility residents at disproportionate risk for weight loss.