Fibromyalgia symptoms improve with CoQ10 supplementation

(HealthDay)—For patients with fibromyalgia (FM), coenzyme Q₁₀ (CoQ₁₀) supplementation is associated with improvement in clinical symptoms, according to a letter to the editor published online Jan. 4 in CNS Neuroscience & Therapeutics.

Elísabet Alcocer-Gómez, from the University of Sevilla in Spain, and colleagues compared the effect of CoQ₁₀ with placebo supplementation in psychopathological profiles from patients with FM. Twenty patients diagnosed with FM were recruited and randomized in a 1:1 ratio to CoQ₁₀ or placebo for 40 days.

The researchers observed no changes in body mass index among the patients after 40 days. The CoQ₁₀ group had molecular changes, including increment in mitochondrial biogenesis and antioxidants gene expression, and reduction in inflammation. These were accompanied by improvement in clinical symptoms determined by Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and tender points. A clinically significant improvement was seen in all subscores from the Symptom Checklist-90-R, with statistically significant reduction in interpersonal sensitivity, depression, anxiety, hostility, and psychoticism items (all P < 0.001); moderately significant changes were seen in somatization and obsessive-compulsive items (both P < 0.05).

"Further analysis involving more patients in double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials is required to confirm these observations," the authors write.