International researchers say the common antidepressant fluvoxamine reduces long COVID–19-related fatigue, one of the condition’s most persistent and debilitating symptoms, while the diabetes drug metformin provides no benefit. They assessed fluvoxamine and metformin for long COVID fatigue among 399 people who had been fatigued for at least 90 days after a COVID-19 infection. Participants were randomly assigned to receive fluvoxamine, metformin, or an inactive placebo. The researchers found that those on fluvoxamine reported a meaningful reduction in fatigue by day 60, with continued improvement at day 90, and also reported improvements in quality of life, while metformin didn't help at all. Fluvoxamine may be a viable treatment for long COVID fatigue, though longer-term effects remain unknown, the authors say. However, they note that participants' history of depression was not recorded or taken into account, so it's possible the improvements seen in fatigue and quality of life were the result of treating depression, rather than long COVID.
Common antidepressant may ease long COVID fatigue
