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Drugs Associated with Weight Gain:

This article details several medications associated with weight gain as well as the mechanism for and the extent of weight gain.

Alternatives to these medications may need to be considered, especially for patients who are overweight or obese with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, or other obesity-related complications. If no alternatives are available, the lowest effective dose of the medication can be considered.

Some findings on hypoglycemic agents include:

Insulin

- Basal insulin appears less likely to cause weight gain than other regimens such as prandial insulin, possibly due to less compensatory eating.

Metiglinides

- An average of 3kg (versus-0.9 kg with metformin) over four to five months was observed for repaglinide.

Sulfonylureas

- Sulfonylureas are considered to cause less weight gain than insulin and similar weight gain to pioglitazone.

Thiazolidinediones

- An average of 2.6 kg after 30 days or more was gained for patients started with pioglitazone.

Other examples of drugs implicated with weight gain include:

• More than one-half of patients taking gabapentin for one year or more may gain ≥5% of baseline weight, with almost one-fourth of patients gaining ≥10% of baseline weight

• Up to ~70% of patients taking valproic acid may gain weight. One-half of patients may gain >10% of baseline weight

• 7.5% of patients taking mirtazapine and one in four patients taking paroxetine may gain ≥7% of baseline weight