Camille Lassale
Assistant professor specialised in nutritional epidemiology and cardiovascular health at ISGlobal
The study design - emulated clinical trial - is an innovative way to infer causality based on real life data coming from electronic health records. This study stands out for its methodological rigour and large sample size. The limitations are the relatively short-term of weight change over 2 years (another study using electronic health records in the UK looked at weight change over 10 years), and the absence of data on lifestyle factors known to affect weight gain such as diet, alcohol use and physical activity.
The results are in line with the literature regarding bupropion, and can help patients and doctors making decisions regarding the type of antidepressant to prescribe.