0
0.5
1
1.5
2+
Mortality
16%
Improvement
Relative Risk
c19 early.org/na
Gamarra-Morales et al. N-acetylcysteine for COVID-19 RCT ICU
Is very late treatment with N-acetylcysteine beneficial for COVID-19?
RCT 140 patients in Spain (March - June 2020)
Lower mortality with N-acetylcysteine (not stat. sig., p=0.49)
Gamarra-Morales et al., Nutrients, doi:10.3390/nu15092235
Favors N-acetylcysteine
Favors control
Response to Intravenous N-Acetylcysteine Supplementation in Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19
Gamarra-Morales et al. ,
Response to Intravenous N-Acetylcysteine Supplementation in Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19 ,
Nutrients, doi:10.3390/nu15092235
RCT 140 ICU patients in Spain, 72 treated with N-acetylcysteine (NAC). NAC patients showed improved PaO
2 /FiO
2 , CRP, D-dimer, and LDH, and there were associations between glutathione and clinical outcomes and severity biomarkers in NAC-treated patients. There was no significant difference in mortality.
Although the 16% lower mortality is not statistically significant, it is consistent with the significant 22% lower mortality
[4‑37%] from meta analysis of the
15 mortality results to date .
risk of death, 15.7% lower , RR 0.84, p = 0.49 , treatment 25 of 72 (34.7%), control 28 of 68 (41.2%), NNT 15.
Effect extraction follows pre-specified rules prioritizing more serious outcomes. Submit updates
Gamarra-Morales et al., 8 May 2023, Randomized Controlled Trial, Spain, peer-reviewed, 8 authors, study period 1 March, 2020 - 1 June, 2020.
Contact:
jennifer_gamo@hotmail.com (corresponding author), jorge.molina@ddi.uhu.es.
Abstract: nutrients
Article
Response to Intravenous N-Acetylcysteine Supplementation in
Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19
Yenifer Gamarra-Morales 1, * , Lourdes Herrera-Quintana 2 , Jorge Molina-López 3, * ,
Héctor Vázquez-Lorente 2 , Juan Francisco Machado-Casas 4 , José Castaño-Pérez 4 , José Miguel Pérez-Villares 4
and Elena Planells 2
1
2
3
4
*
Citation: Gamarra-Morales, Y.;
Herrera-Quintana, L.; Molina-López,
J.; Vázquez-Lorente, H.;
Machado-Casas, J.F.; Castaño-Pérez,
J.; Pérez-Villares, J.M.; Planells, E.
Clinical Analysis Unit, Valle de los Pedroches Hospital, Pozoblanco, 14400 Córdoba, Spain
Department of Physiology, School of Pharmacy, Institute of Nutrition and Food Technology “José Mataix”,
University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain
Faculty of Education, Psychology and Sports Sciences, University of Huelva, 21007 Huelva, Spain
Intensive Care Unit, Virgen de las Nieves Hospital, Fuerzas Armadas Avenue, 18014 Granada, Spain
Correspondence: jennifer_gamo@hotmail.com (Y.G.-M.); jorge.molina@ddi.uhu.es (J.M.-L.)
Abstract: Administering N-acetylcysteine (NAC) could counteract the effect of free radicals, improving the clinical evolution of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU). This study aimed to
investigate the clinical and biochemical effects of administering NAC to critically ill patients with
COVID-19. A randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on ICU patients (n = 140) with
COVID-19 and divided into two groups: patients treated with NAC (NAC-treated group) and patients
without NAC treatment (control group). NAC was administered as a continuous infusion with a
loading dose and a maintenance dose during the study period (from admission until the third day of
ICU stay). NAC-treated patients showed higher PaO2 /FiO2 (p ≤ 0.014) after 3 days in ICU than their
control group counterparts. Moreover, C-reactive protein (p ≤ 0.001), D-dimer (p ≤ 0.042), and lactate
dehydrogenase (p ≤ 0.001) levels decreased on the third day in NAC-treated patients. Glutathione
concentrations decreased in both NAC-treated (p ≤ 0.004) and control (p ≤ 0.047) groups after 3 days
in ICU; whereas glutathione peroxidase did not change during the ICU stay. The administration of
NAC manages to improve the clinical and analytical response of seriously ill patients with COVID-19
compared to the control group. NAC is able to stop the decrease in glutathione concentrations.
Response to Intravenous
N-Acetylcysteine Supplementation in
Keywords: COVID-19; N-acetylcysteine; mortality; antioxidant; pneumonia; biomarker
Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19.
Nutrients 2023, 15, 2235. https://
doi.org/10.3390/nu15092235
Academic Editors: George
Briassoulis, Panagiotis Briassoulis
and Stavroula Ilia
Received: 4 April 2023
Revised: 1 May 2023
Accepted: 7 May 2023
Published: 8 May 2023
Copyright: © 2023 by the authors.
Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
This article is an open access article
distributed under the terms and
conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
Late treatment is less effective
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