Effect of N-Acetylcysteine on Inflammatory and Biochemical Markers of Hemodialysis Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial

The oxidative stress results in atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases in patients receiving hemodialysis. n-acetylcysteine is a well-known antioxidant agent. there are little studies about the effect of n-acetylcysteine on patients receiving hemodialysis, and, if any, their results are inconsistent. this study, as a double-blind, randomized clinical trial, was conducted on 44 hemodialysis patients in shahid beheshti hospital, yasuj, iran in 2015. patients were randomly allocated into two groups, in the intervention group, n-acetylcysteine 600 mg every 12 hours for eight weeks was administered and the second group received placebo during this period every 12 hours. blood samples were taken to measure c-reactive protein, interleukin-6 and other biochemical markers such as ferritin, albumin, and creatinine at baseline and at the end of treatment. 40 patients completed the study (21 on n-acetylcysteine, 19 on placebo), with a mean age of 60.72±17.60. there was not any significant difference between intervention and control groups in interleukin-6 (8.85±6.9 vs. 10.32±8.68, 95% ci, -3.52 to 6.46; p=0.55) and c - reactive protein (0.85±0.29 vs. 0.9±0.31, 95% ci, -.14 to .24; p=0.60). in addition, there was no significant relationship between the two groups in other biochemical markers. in this study, administering n-acetylcysteine was safe and caused a reduction in some inflammatory markers, but these changes were not significant in comparison with placebo.