Antidepressants and body weight: a comprehensive review and meta-analysis
Worth asking your prescriber whether an antidepressant with less weight-gain risk would fit your treatment plan if weight is already a concern for you.
Suggestive but preliminary. Not settled. how we score evidence
Caveat on this rating: Included non-placebo-controlled studies (compared against a "virtual placebo" sample), total participant count and funding not verifiable from accessible text — scored conservatively; direction of the mirtazapine weight finding is consistent with the placebo-controlled Kamp 2025 meta-analysis.
In a meta-analysis of 116 studies of antidepressants and body weight, mirtazapine was — alongside amitriptyline and paroxetine — associated with the greatest risk of weight gain among the antidepressants examined, while drugs such as bupropion and (short-term) fluoxetine tended toward weight loss.
Worth asking
Worth asking your prescriber whether an antidepressant with less weight-gain risk would fit your treatment plan if weight is already a concern for you.
What it is FDA approved for
Read off the label. Trial duration and approval year are shown only where they were recorded — never inferred.
- Major depressive disorder (adults)
Source
Antidepressants and body weight: a comprehensive review and meta-analysis — Serretti A, Mandelli L (2010)
Reputable peer-reviewed journal
Read the source: https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.09r05346blu
DOI: 10.4088/JCP.09r05346blu
How this was scored
- Study design
- Systematic review of observational studies
- Funding
- Funding not disclosed
- Published in
- Reputable peer-reviewed journal
- Sample size
- not recorded
- Preregistered
- No
- Conflicts disclosed
- No
- Independent of proponent
- not recorded
- Retracted
- No
Read the full scoring rubric, including what it can't tell you.
Published August 19, 2026.
Questions
How strong is the evidence behind this?
Resolv rates this source "early signal". Suggestive but preliminary. Not settled. It scores 52 out of 100 on our published rubric. One caveat travels with that badge: Included non-placebo-controlled studies (compared against a "virtual placebo" sample), total participant count and funding not verifiable from accessible text — scored conservatively; direction of the mirtazapine weight finding is consistent with the placebo-controlled Kamp 2025 meta-analysis. The score is calculated from recorded facts about the source — study design, funding, publication venue, sample size, preregistration — not typed in by an editor.
What is the source for this?
Antidepressants and body weight: a comprehensive review and meta-analysis — Serretti A, Mandelli L (2010). Published in: Reputable peer-reviewed journal. DOI: 10.4088/JCP.09r05346blu. The full source is linked on this page so you can read it yourself.
Who paid for this research, and does that matter?
Study design: Systematic review of observational studies. Funding: Funding not disclosed. Independence from the proponent is not recorded. Industry sponsorship is one of the most reliably measured biases in medicine, which is why funding carries real weight in the score rather than sitting in a footnote.
Is mirtazapine (Remeron), remeron FDA approved?
Yes — FDA approved for Major depressive disorder (adults). Approval is for a specific indication, not for everything the drug is prescribed for.
Is this medical advice?
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.
This is information to bring to your prescriber, not medical advice and not a reason to change anything on your own. Nothing here is an instruction to stop or reduce a medication. If you are in crisis, call or text 988.