Eight RCTs (n=1,093) were included.
Sibutramine significantly reduced weight compared with placebo: decrease of 5.5 kg versus increase of 0.9 kg with placebo; the ES was -0.87 (95% CI: -1.00, -0.74, P=0.0000). Statistically significant heterogeneity was found (P=0.0026).
Sibutramine significantly reduced waist circumference compared with placebo: decrease of 5.32 cm versus increase of 1.13 cm; the ES was -0.67 (95% CI: -0.83, -0.51, P=0.0000). Statistically significant heterogeneity was found (P=0.0014).
There was a small but statistically significant decrease in blood glucose with sibutramine; the ES was -0.17 (95% CI: -0.32, -0.03, P=0.0187). No statistically significant heterogeneity was found (P=0.98).
Sibutramine significantly decreased HbA1c compared with placebo; the ES was -0.28% (95% CI: -0.42, -0.13, P=0.0002). There was borderline statistically significant heterogeneity (P=0.0104).
Sibutramine significantly reduced plasma triglycerides (ES -0.24, 95% CI: -0.39, -0.09, P=0.0024) and increased HDL (ES 0.20, 95% CI: 0.05, 0.35, P=0.0087) compared with placebo. No statistically significant heterogeneity was found (P>0.1). There was no significant difference between treatments for total cholesterol or LDL cholesterol (the results were reported).
None of the studies assessed systolic BP. Compared with the control, sibutramine was associated with a small but statistically significant increase in diastolic BP (ES 0.22, 95% CI: 0.07, 0.38, P=0.0050) and heart rate (ES 0.53, 95% CI: 0.39, 0.67, P=0.000). No significant statistical heterogeneity was found (P>0.49).