Abstract
In a prospective, placebo-controlled study, 74 women with recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis were treated with oral ketoconazole (400 mg daily for two weeks) and were then randomly assigned to receive placebo (Group A), prophylactic ketoconazole, 400 mg daily for five days beginning with the onset of menses for six menstrual cycles (Group B), or low-dose ketoconazole, 100 mg daily for six months (Group C). Within a six-month follow-up period, 15 of 21 women (71.4 percent) treated with placebo had symptomatic recurrence of candidal vaginitis. In contrast, candidal vaginitis recurred in 6 of 21 (28.6 percent) and in 1 of 21 (4.8 percent) women in Groups B and C (P<0.01; P0.05) and 52.4 percent in Group C (P<0.05).