[Treatment of chronic postinfectious fatigue: randomized double-blind study of two doses of sulbutiamine (400-600 mg/day) versus placebo].
OBJECTIVE
Chronic fatigue remains a medical mystery and a therapeutic failure. The subgroup of chronic fatigue postinfectious fatigue (CPIF) is an interesting one since it is quite frequent in general practice.


METHODS
We studied sulbutiamine (Su), isobutyryl-thiamine disulfide in this context. We included 326 general-practice patients suffering from CPIF: they received randomly either Su, 400 mg daily (n = 106), or Su, 600 mg daily (n = 111), or placebo (n = 109) for 28 days in a double-blind, parallel-group study. 315 patients completed the study.


RESULTS
The evaluation of fatigue, by multiple means including mainly MFI, a validated multidimensional fatigue scale, showed overall no significant difference between the groups. On the 7th day, however, women receiving Su, 600 mg had less fatigue (P < 0.01), but the figures were quite diverse and no persistent effect was noted at the 28th day.


CONCLUSIONS
Thus, we showed for the first time that a high level general-practice study of fatigue is feasible using specific tools. Whether the effect observed after 1 week in women represents a true finding needs additional research. Further studies are in progress in order to characterize better the potential usefulness of Su in chronic fatigue.
Tiev
K P
KP
Service de médecine interne, Hôpital Saint-Antoine, Paris, France.
Cabane
J
J
Imbert
J C
JC
D000328:Adult; D000928:Antidepressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000150:complications; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D005221:Fatigue / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D013831:Thiamine / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D016896:Treatment Outcome
D000928:Antidepressive Agents; C031331:sulbutiamine; D013831:Thiamine