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To the Editor: Dr Wirth and Ms Krause¹ reported that sibutramine resulted in similar amounts of weight loss among obese patients whether given as an intermittent therapy (IT) or as continuous therapy (CT), compared with placebo. We have 4 concerns with the study and its conclusions.

First, the authors make statistical comparisons starting at 4 weeks in all 3 groups. Although both the IT and CT groups had had a 4-week run-in, there was no difference in treatment between the IT and CT groups until week 12. In effect, the IT group had a 12-week run-in. This makes comparison using 4-week values as a starting point invalid. Either there should not have been a sibutramine run-in period at all, given that only 23 of 1102 patients were excluded due to being nonresponders during this period, or the placebo group should have stayed on sibutramine for 12 weeks as well to . . . [Full Text of this Article]

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RELATED ARTICLE

Long-term Weight Loss With Sibutramine: A Randomized Controlled Trial
Alfred Wirth and Jutta Krause
JAMA. 2001;286(11):1331-1339.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT