Menopause-related Weight Gain Drug Groups Named

2023 Author: Abraham Higgins | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-11-27 23:16

Menopause-related weight gain drug groups named

Scientists believe that doctors should be very careful about prescribing women who have reached menopause.

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It is relatively common for postmenopausal women to have excess abdominal fat. It is a risk factor for various health problems, most notably diabetes and heart disease. A new study suggests that medications women take after menopause are at least partly to blame for this unhealthy fat mass. Scientific work published in the journal Menopause.

Unwanted weight gain is a side effect of many medications that are prescribed to treat diabetes, severe inflammation, hypertension and depression. We are talking about preparations of the groups of beta-blockers, corticosteroids, antidepressants, as well as insulin. Scientists report that, at the same time, women who are overweight are more likely to take these drugs.

Scientists analyzed data from a large study, the Women's Health Initiative. They focused on the relationship between the use of drugs that can promote weight gain and the dynamics of weight in the study participants over three years.

Initial measurements at the beginning of the study showed that taking at least one drug from these groups is associated with an increase in weight and waist volume. Both rates increased as the number of drugs taken increased. Those at the highest risk of weight gain during follow-up were those taking antidepressants or insulin or a combination of beta-blockers and antidepressants.

The results of this study are important primarily for doctors, scientists say. They must be very careful in choosing medications for women who have reached menopause. In particular, you need to make sure that these drugs are really required (promoting fat deposition) or they can be replaced with safer analogues.