Efficacy and safety of bupropion in quality of life of cancer patients, a randomized double blind placebo controlled clinical trial

Background and purpose: Decreasing the quality of life in cancer patients is an essential factor that influences their lives during the process of treatment and after that. A lot of studies have been done to evaluate the efficacy of medical agents on quality of life. In this study, we evaluate the efficacy of Bupropion as an antidepressant agent in quality of life of cancer patients. Materials and Methods: In this double-blind randomized placebo-controlled clinical trial, a total of 30 eligible cancer patients suffering from fatigue were randomly divided into two 15-individual groups of bupropion and placebo. Bupropion was administered 75 mg/day for the first three days and 150 mg/day (in two doses) till the end of the study for group bupropion. Quality of life was measured by EORCT-QLQ-C3 scale. Adverse effects were assessed based on NCI Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events. The study was six weeks long and assessments were done at baseline, second week and sixth week. Results: There was no significant difference in scores between placebo and bupropion at baseline and second week. While, significant difference was seen at the week six (P=0.005 for function, P=0.036 for symptoms and P<0.001 for health).  Between group assessments showed better average score for bupropion in comparison to placebo. Only two cases of adverse effects were reported. Conclusion: bupropion can be effective in improvement of quality of life in cancer patients