Does amantadine have favourable effects on fatigue in Persian patients suffering from multiple sclerosis?

Fatigue is a frequent symptom in multiple sclerosis (MS), recognized as the most unpleasant symptom by 50-60% of patients. Amantadine is one of the medications prescribed for fatigue in MS. Some previous studies have demonstrated a positive influences of amantadine on fatigue in MS. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of amantadine on Persian MS patients.

This prospective study took place in Isfahan, Iran and included 42 MS patients with fatigue who were divided randomly into two groups. Twenty-one patients received amantadine and all others placebo. The Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) was used to determine the severity of the fatigue. FSS scores at baseline and two months later were compared in the two groups.

Mean (SD) baseline FSS score was 5.27 (1.11) in the amantadine group and 4.89 (1.13) in the placebo group (p > 0.05). Mean FSS at the end of study was 4.00 (1.02) in the amantadine group and 4.24 (1.03) in the placebo group (p > 0.05); however, the FSS change (the difference between FSS scores at the end of the study and at the beginning of the study) in amantadine and placebo groups was -1.27 (0.53) and -0.66 (0.33), respectively, which was significant (p < 0.05).

Our findings demonstrate a significant drop on the fatigue severity scale in MS patients after treatment with amantadine; nevertheless, more studies on a larger scale with longer duration are needed to confirm this finding.