Efficacy and tolerability of single-dose versus six-day treatment of candidal vulvovaginitis with vaginal tablets of clotrimazole

Abstract

One hundred ninety-nine female patients with candidal vulvovaginitis were included in an open, randomized, mycologically controlled study carried out at three Dutch gynecologic clinics to determine the efficacy and tolerability of a single vaginal tablet containing 500 mg clotrimazole in comparison with a 6-day treatment with vaginal tablets containing 100 mg clotrimazole. Both groups were comparable in age, body weight, and duration and severity of the infection, and in both groups the percentage of patients who were also treated for vulvitis with a 1% clotrimazole cream and the percentage of the male partners who were treated were equal. Four weeks after therapy, 84 of the 102 patients (82.4%) treated with one dose of 500 mg clotrimazole were cured and 82 of the 97 patients (84.5%) of the 6-day treatment group were cured. The clinical symptoms improved parallel to the improvement of mycologic findings. Both the vaginal tablets containing 500 mg and those containing 100 mg clotrimazole were well tolerated by the patients. After 1 week the results of the single-dose treatment with 500 mg clotrimazole were slightly better than those of the 6-day treatment with vaginal tablets of 100 mg clotrimazole. After 4 weeks the results were reversed, but it should be considered that this could be due to reinfection of the patients.