Researchers found that commonly used antidepressants differ substantially in their short-term physiologic effects, particularly across cardiometabolic parameters. Agents varied in their impact on weight, heart rate, blood pressure, lipids, glucose, and hepatic enzymes, with tricyclics and serotonin–noradrenaline reuptake inhibitors generally showing greater metabolic and hemodynamic shifts. For example, agomelatine was associated with weight loss, whereas maprotiline and amitriptyline produced clinically meaningful weight gain; nortriptyline increased heart rate, while fluvoxamine lowered it; and multiple antidepressants modestly raised systolic and diastolic blood pressure or cholesterol. Duloxetine, desvenlafaxine, and levomilnacipran produced small increases in hepatic enzymes, whereas no significant changes were observed in renal markers or corrected QT interval.

Source: The Lancet