Data presented today at the 13th European Congress on Obesity explored the reduction of cardiovascular risk factors associated with being obese among patients who lost weight with sibutramine treatment. The data presented at the congress demonstrated the relationship of weight loss with sibutramine to improvements in obesity-associated cardiovascular risk factors including metabolic syndrome, reduced left ventricular mass, and lowered predicted risk of coronary heart disease (CHD).

"Cardiovascular-related conditions including hypertension, dyslipidaemia and type 2 diabetes are all serious risks for obese patients," stated Professor Arya M. Sharma M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Medicine, Cardiovascular Obesity Research and Management, at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. "These data are significant because they provide insight into the reduction of cardiovascular risk factors for these obese patients with sibutramine-induced weight loss."

Beneficial Effects in Obese Patients with Metabolic Syndrome

The majority of obese patients have metabolic syndrome, a condition defined by the presence of three or more cardiovascular risk factors, which include increased abdominal fat (measured by waist circumference), dyslipidaemia (elevated triglyceride levels and reduced HDL cholesterol, typically known as the 'good' cholesterol), hypertension and impaired fasting glucose.

Analyses of data from obese patients with metabolic syndrome who participated in five clinical trials with sibutramine and a reduced-calorie diet showed that after 12 months of therapy, 58 percent no longer met the criteria for a metabolic syndrome diagnosis (compared to 40 percent of placebo patients p Reduction in Left Ventricular Mass

Two-thirds of patients with obesity and hypertension have left ventricular hypertrophy, a condition that is associated with serious cardiovascular risk. New data showed that weight loss with sibutramine treatment and a lower-calorie diet reduced left ventricular mass three times more than weight loss from a lower-calorie diet alone (mean 10.9 g compared to mean 3.6 g for placebo, p