Trial reportBMC infectious diseases2023
Effect of fluvoxamine on preventing neuropsychiatric symptoms of post COVID syndrome in mild to moderate patients, a randomized placebo-controlled double-blind clinical trial.
Trial report in BMC infectious diseases, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 20 citations in OpenAlex.
- Pooled it
- A systematic review and meta-analysis, investigating dose and time of fluvoxamine treatment efficacy for COVID-19 clinical deterioration, death, and Long-COVID complications.Scientific reports · 2024Pooled it
- The Post-COVID syndrome caused by excessive inflammation: pathogenesis, potential targets and therapeutic agents.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Bridging Gaps in Long COVID Therapy: A Review.Current medicinal chemistry · 2026Review
- Clinical Practice Guideline Recommendations for Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19.Infection & chemotherapy · 2025Review
- An Overview of the Systematic Reviews About the Efficacy of Fluvoxamine on Depression.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- [Clinical characteristics and cytokine gene expression in patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome].Revista medica del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social · 2025Observational
- Beyond the Surface: Tracing the Evolution of Inflammatory Mechanism in Depression through Bibliometric Analysis.Endocrine, metabolic & immune disorders drug targets · 2025Review
- Review
- Updated Clinical Practice Guidelines for the Diagnosis and Management of Long COVID.Infection & chemotherapy · 2024Review
- Antidepressants for prevention of severe COVID-19, Long COVID and outlook for other viral diseases.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Article
- Detrimental effects of COVID-19 in the brain and therapeutic options for long COVID: The role of Epstein-Barr virus and the gut-brain axis.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Review
- Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundShortly after the Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a considerable number of recovered patients reported persisting symptoms, especially neuropsychological manifestations, which were later named post-COVID syndrome (PCS). Immune dysregulation was suggested as one of the main mechanisms for PCS. Fluvoxamine, a selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) that is mostly used to treat depression, anxiety disorders, and obsessive-compulsive disorder, has been suggested as an anti-COVID drug due to its anti-inflammatory effects, mainly through the sigma-1 receptor. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate fluvoxamine's effect on PCS neuropsychiatric symptoms.
methodIn this double-blind randomized clinical trial, we included confirmed mild to moderate COVID-19 outpatients using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) by an infectious disease specialist. The presence of severe COVID-19 symptoms was evaluated by the infectious disease specialist and included dyspnea, SpO2 < 94% on room air, PaO2/FiO2 < 300 mm Hg, a respiratory rate > 30 breaths/min, and lung infiltrates > 50%. Then we performed permuted block randomization and assigned patients 1:1 into two groups to either receive fluvoxamine 100 mg tablet or a placebo daily for 10 days. Eligible patients were evaluated after 12 weeks for the presence of fatigue, as the primary, and other PCS symptoms as secondary outcomes.
resultsWe screened a total of 486 patients from March to June 2022. After 12 weeks, 42 patients receiving fluvoxamine and 43 patients receiving Placebo were evaluated for PCS. Patients had a mean age of 38.5 ± 14.1 and 48% of them were women. Fatigue was significantly lower in the fluvoxamine group (p-value 0.026). No significant differences were observed in other symptoms.
conclusionWe concluded that taking fluvoxamine during active COVID-19 can reduce the chance of fatigue but the advantage of fluvoxamine was not observed for other symptoms. Further studies are necessary to confirm these preliminary results.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.