Research
Hormonal
Sympathomimetic obesity drugs (phentermine/topiramate, bupropion/naltrexone) increase heart rate and blood pressure, posing a potential cardiovascular risk despite weight loss benefits.
Sympathomimetic weight loss drugs can raise blood pressure and heart rate. If you have hypertension or heart conditions, these drugs may not be suitable, or require close monitoring.
GoodRefutesHIGH confidence
Like other sympathomimetic drugs, phentermine plus topiramate increases heart rate in clinical trials... Bupropion plus naltrexone increased heart rate and BP more than placebo.
Why this rating
Consistent findings across multiple trials showing increased HR and BP.
Source
Modern Obesity Pharmacotherapy: Weighing Cardiovascular Risk and Benefit
Jonathan W. Cunningham et al. · Clinical Cardiology · 2014
DOI 10.1002/clc.22304
narrative_reviewCited 36×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- Lorcaserin's high selectivity for the 5-HT2C receptor minimizes the risk of valvulopathy and pulmonary hypertension seen with non-selective serotonergic drugs like fenfluramine.Good
- Modern obesity pharmacotherapies (phentermine/topiramate, lorcaserin, bupropion/naltrexone) improve cardiovascular risk factors (blood pressure, lipids, glucose) but their impact on actual cardiovascular events and mortality remains unproven and requires dedicated outcomes trials.Moderate
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