Am J Psychiatry 1990; 147:876-881
Copyright © 1990 by American Psychiatric Association
A double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of fluoxetine plus behavior modification in the treatment of obese binge-eaters and non-binge- eaters
MD Marcus, RR Wing, L Ewing, E Kern, M McDermott and W Gooding
Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, PA.
To determine whether fluoxetine is effective in the long-term treatment of
obesity and whether it is particularly useful in the treatment of obese
binge-eaters, the authors randomly assigned 45 obese subjects (22 with
binge-eating problems and 23 without binge-eating) to fluoxetine (60
mg/day) or placebo in a 52-week double-blind trial. The 21 subjects who
completed the trial made 13 clinic visits and were taught basic behavior
modification strategies. Patients treated with fluoxetine plus behavior
modification lost significantly more weight than those treated with placebo
plus behavior modification. However, the drug did not appear to have a
differential benefit for binge-eaters.
