CRD Summary: This review concluded that, although rimonabant produced greater weight loss after 1 year than placebo, it increased the risk of psychiatric adverse events (mood disorders and anxiety). These conclusions are likely to be reliable, and the authors’ recommendations for further research into the safety of rimonabant and careful monitoring of patients appear appropriate.

CRD Commentary: This review had clear inclusion criteria. A range of resources were searched with no language restrictions. The methods used to assess quality and extract the data were documented, but full details of the quality assessment were not reported for each study, although the authors did state that the studies were all rated as high quality. Details of the software used for the meta-analyses were reported, but not the actual method used (fixed or random), although the results appear consistent with random-effects models. The meta-analysis methods appear appropriate. However, since the meta-regression was based on only 4 studies and numerical results were not reported, these results should be treated with caution. The conclusions are likely to be reliable but it should be acknowledged that they are based on only 4 studies, all of which were sponsored by the manufacturer of rimonabant. The authors’ recommendations for further research and monitoring of practice appear appropriate.