Conditions: Menopause
Keywords: fatigue menopausal symptoms hot flashes Vasomotor symptoms perimenopause related Quality of life
Allocation: NA | Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Enrollment: 25
Healthy volunteers: yes

Brief summary:
The purpose of this study is to determine if armodafinil improves quality of life and is an effective treatment of fatigue in symptomatic perimenopausal and postmenopausal women.

Detailed description:
Fatigue is one of the most prevalent symptoms occurring in peri- and postmenopausal women. It is strongly associated with reduced quality of life in this population. Studies have shown a strong association between fatigue and menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, vaginal symptoms, and sexual dysfunction. Because sleep disturbance commonly co-occurs in women with hot flashes as a result of nocturnal hot flashes disrupting sleep, sleep disturbance may explain the association between hot flashes and fatigue in this population. However evidence suggests that fatigue can occur in the absence of sleep disruption, indicating that sleep problems do not exclusively explain the etiology of fatigue in this population.

Armodafinil is a wakefulness-promoting agent that acts as a central nervous system stimulant. It is chemically and pharmacologically unrelated to other CNS stimulants, such as methylphenidate and amphetamine. Armodafinil is FDA approved to increase wakefulness in patients with excessive sleepiness due to narcolepsy, obstructive sleep apnea, and shift work sleep disorder. It has not be studied in menopause-associated fatigue.

In the proposed study, the investigators plan to investigate the effect of armodafinil on quality of life and fatigue in a population of peri- and postmenopausal women with fatigue and reduced quality of life who do not have primary sleep disorders, significant levels of insomnia, or depression.

Arms:
arm 1: Armodafinil is the drug being tested.

Interventions: intervention 1: Armodafinil
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Women who are eligible will receive 4 weeks of treatment with armodafinil. Armodafinil will be titrated from 50-mg/day up to 150-mg/day. For exploratory reasons only, at the end of the 4-week treatment period, participants will enter a discontinuation phase in which they will be randomized to double-blind treatment with armodafinil 150-mg/day or matching placebo for 2 weeks in a 1-to-1 ratio. No primary outcomes were studied in the discontinuation phase.

Protocol document: