The effects of L-carnitine supplementation on inflammatory factors, oxidative stress, and clinical outcomes in patients with sepsis admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU): study protocol for a double blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial

What Was Tested

Researchers studied L-Carnitine in this clinical study publication.

Conventional therapies include antibiotics, but these may have important adverse effects, so novel therapeutic approaches are required.

Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials IRCT20201129049534N1.

Who Took Part

The study group was 60 patients.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were young adults, adults, middle-aged adults and older adults.

In this double-blind, randomized controlled clinical trial, the researchers will use block randomization of 60 patients with sepsis, aged between 20 and 65 years from Al-Zahra Hospital, Isfahan, Iran.

At baseline, scores for clinical and nutritional status (Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (APACHE II), Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA), Quick SOFA (qSOFA), and NUTRIC Score) will be assessed.

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Because people in this L-Carnitine study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Neither the patients nor the staff measuring them knew who was on L-Carnitine, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

Some patients received a placebo instead of L-Carnitine, giving a reference point.

At beginning and end point of the study, inflammatory markers (CRP, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR)), oxidative stress status (total oxidative stress (TOS), total antioxidant capacity (TAC)), and clinical variables will be evaluated also.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Carnitine, Dietary Supplements, Intensive Care Units, Iran, Oxidative Stress, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic and Sepsis.

The authors tagged it with the keywords Critically ill, ICU, Inflammation, L-carnitine and Supplementation.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of L-Carnitine in 60 patients.

The abstract goes on to report its results in about 1 sentences; this page does not restate them, so read the paper for the findings and their limits.

The publication is from 2022 (Trials), a journal based in England.

More context: the L-Carnitine compound page, all human trials.