d-Fenfluramine Treatment of Binge Eating Disorder

Stunkard, Albert MD
Berkowitz, Robert MD
Tanrikut, Cigdem BA
Reiss, Elizabeth BA
Young, Lisa MS

Received July 20, 1995; revisions received Nov. 16, 1995, and April 17, 1996; accepted June 3, 1996. From the Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania. Address reprint requests to Dr. Stunkard, University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, 3600 Market St., Suite 734, Philadelphia, PA 19104-2648.
Supported in part by a grant from Servier Amerique to Dr. Berkowitz and NIMH Research Scientist Award MH-00245 to Dr. Stunkard.
The authors thank Greg Maislin and Helena Kraemer for the statistical analyses.

American Journal of Psychiatry 153(11):p 1455-1459, November 1996.

Objective

The purpose of this study was to assess the efficacy of the appetite suppressant d-fenfluramine in the treatment of binge eating disorder. Method: The authors conducted an 8-week double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial of the drug with 28 severely obese female patients meeting full criteria for binge eating disorder. The primary outcome measure was number of binges per week, as recorded in binge diaries and reviewed weekly with the principal investigators. Results: Random effects linear regression analysis showed that the rate of binge eating in the d-fenfluramine group fell three times more rapidly than that in the placebo group, a result that was both clinically and statistically significant. At 4-month follow-up the binge frequency of the d-fenfluramine group had increased to pretreatment levels and no longer differed from that of the placebo group. Conclusions: d-Fenfluramine reduced the frequency of binge eating by obese women with binge eating disorder.

(Am J Psychiatry 1996; 153:1455-1459)