THE commonly prescribed antidepressant fluvoxamine significantly reduces fatigue associated with long COVID - one of the condition's most persistent and debilitating symptoms - according to recent research.
The team from Brazil assessed the efficacy of fluvoxamine and type 2 diabetes drug metformin for long COVID fatigue among around 400 people between Oct 2023 and Feb 2025.
Participants had been experiencing fatigue for at least 90 days after infection and were randomly assigned to receive fluvoxamine, metformin or a placebo for 60 days.
Fluvoxamine produced a meaningful reduction in fatigue by day 60, with continued improvement at day 90, and also boosted overall quality-of-life scores, while metformin did not show any significant effect.
While all treatments were generally safe, fluvoxamine had fewer reported side effects.
An important limitation of the study was that history of depression was not assessed, so it is unclear whether the treatment effect was due to a direct effect on long COVID or to an effect on baseline depression.
The authors concluded that fluvoxamine may offer a viable treatment option for long COVID fatigue, and larger studies are warranted.
"Future trials should incorporate standardised assessments of depression and anxiety, at baseline and follow-up, alongside inflammatory and metabolic biomarkers, to clarify mechanisms and identify subgroups most likely to benefit," they wrote.
Read the study HERE.
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