• Serge Sevy, Murray H Rosenthal, Jose Alvir, Sabina Meyer, Hema Visweswaraiah, Handan Gunduz-Bruce, and Nina R Schooler.
• The Zucker Hillside Hospital, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, Glen Oaks, NY 11004, USA. sevy@lij.edu
• J Clin Psychiatry. 2005 Jul 1;66(7):839-43.

ObjectiveTo assess the effects of modafinil on fatigue, symptoms, attention, working memory, and executive functioning in schizophrenia patients treated with psychotropic medications.MethodTwenty-four patients with a DSM-IV diagnosis of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder (10 men and 14 women) were randomly assigned to modafinil up to 200 mg a day (N = 13) or placebo (N = 11) as an adjunct therapy in an 8-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled study. Data were collected from May 18, 2001 to September 11, 2003.ResultsFour subjects terminated the study early, including one because of worsening of psychosis during the first week taking modafinil. In the modafinil (N = 10) and placebo (N = 10) groups, fatigue improved significantly over time (p < .01), but there were no differences between groups on changes in fatigue, positive and negative symptoms, or cognition.ConclusionFatigue improved in both groups, and there were no differences between groups on changes in fatigue, symptoms, attention, working memory, or executive functioning. Lack of differences between groups may be due to small sample size or possible regression to the mean in the placebo group.

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