Carnitine supplementation improves depressive mode in uremic men with hemodialysis

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26860487
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: General internal medicine(including psychosomatic medicine)
• Research Institution: Kurume University
• Principal Investigator: Sakai Kazuko 久留米大学, 医学部, 助教 (90597387)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 血液透析 / LOH症候群 / カルニチン / うつ病

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Depression contributes to decrease in quality of life in male hemodialysis (HD) patients. We have recently reported that carnitine deficiency is associated with degree of depression in male HD patients. Therefore, we examined whether carnitine supplementation improved depressive mode in these patients. Sixteen male and ten female HD patients were enrolled in this study. We examined whether depression mode was improved by administration of L-carnitine by PO (900mg/day) or IV . Status of depression was evaluated by questionnaires using self-rating depression scale (SDS).Levels of all the carnitine fractions were significantly increased by L-carnitine supplementation in HD patients. SDS was significantly improved by L-carnitine administration for 3 month in male HD patients.The observations suggest that L-carnitine therapy improved depression mode, thus supporting the clinical utility of administration of L-carnitine for the treatment of male patients on HD.

Free Research Field

血液透析