Oral carnitine supplementation for dyslipidemia in chronic hemodialysis patients

Carnitine deficiency is a commonly observed problem in maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients, which results in altered metabolism of fatty acids and subsequently development of dyslipidemia. To evaluate the effect of oral L-carnitine (LC) supplementation on lipid profile of adult MHD patients, we studied 30 of them (19 males, 11 females) who received LC supplementation of 250 mg tablets three times a day for eight weeks. They were compared with 30 matched patients as a control group. Serum lipid profiles were compared before and after the intervention between the two groups. There was a significant decrease of the values of the lipid profile in the intervention group before and after carnitine supplementation including the mean values of total cholesterol (190 ± 36.8 vs. 177 ± 31.2 mg/dL), triglyceride (210 ± 64.7 vs. 190 ± 54.1 mg/dL) and LDL-cholesterol (117 ± 30.1 vs. 106 ± 26.3 mg/dL), while the values did not change siginificantly from base line in the control group. However, the difference for HDL-cholesterol in intervention group was not statistically significant. None of the patients dropped out of the study due to drug side effects. Oral LC supplementation (750 mg/day) is able to improve lipid profile in patients on MHD. Further long-term studies with adequate sample size are needed to define the population of patients who would benefit more from carnitine therapy and the optimal dose and the most efficient route for administration of the drug.