[ARTICLE] Dramatic Weight Loss with Levetiracetam – Full Text

Summary

Background: Levetiracetam is considered a “weight-neutral” drug. We report 19 cases of significant weight loss associated with levetiracetam at a dose ranging from 500 to 2000 mg/day.

Methods: The population was divided into two groups. Group 1 includes patients in whom levetiracetam was the only possible cause of weight loss and Group 2 those in whom other factors may have played a role. Similar cases reported by the French national drug safety center were added (Group 3).

Results: Group 1 included 9 females and 3 males (weight loss ranging from 8.1% to 28.6%). Three patients had levetiracetam in monotherapy. Prior levetiracetam only three were overweight. One patient was hospitalized for a thorough assessment of weight loss. Seven patients reported reduced caloric intake due to decreased pleasure with food. The other five did not report any changes in feeding behavior. Group 2 included seven females with a weight loss ranging from 10% to 26.6%. One patient was on topiramate since two years prior to levetiracetam. Weight loss started with the introduction of levetiracetam. In 4 patients, there was a decreased dosage or cessation of a previous drug known to produce weight gain in some cases simultaneously to the introduction of levetiracetam, but in two of these patients these drugs had not produced any weight gain. Group 3 included only two patients (weight loss: 7 and 20 kg).

Conclusions: This study provides evidence that levetiracetam can cause significant weight loss. Women are at higher risk while initial weight is not a factor.

Levetiracetam (LEV) is an antiepileptic drug with a broad clinical spectrum effective in focal epilepsy as well as in idiopathic generalized epilepsy (Grunewald, 2005; Di Bonaventura et al., 2005). The majority of adverse effects are of mild to moderate severity, the most commonly reported being asthenia, somnolence, headache, and dizziness (Genton et al., 2006). Less frequent events that may also occur are anorexia, nausea, dry mouth (Biton, 2002) and behavioral and psychiatric events (Dinkelacker et al., 2003; Genton et al., 2006).

LEV is considered “weight-neutral” (Gidal et al., 2003; Briggs and French, 2004). However, weight loss is listed in a study comparing LEV in adult vs ageing patients (Cramer et al., 2003) and four cases of considerable weight loss have been published with LEV used in cotherapy at a dose ranging from 2000 to 3000 mg/day (Hadjikoutis et al., 2003). In the light of our recent clinical experience, we report 19 cases of weight loss associated with LEV but at lower doses and in monotherapy in three patients. These 19 patients were divided in two soubgroups, with LEV as the likely contributing factor vs cases with confounding variables.[…]

 

Continue —> Dramatic Weight Loss with Levetiracetam – Gelisse – 2007 – Epilepsia – Wiley Online Library