Comparison of the effect of Coenzyme Q10 and N-acetyl cysteine in prevention of acute kidney disease in critically ill patients admitted to Pediatric Intensive Care Unit

Background: Acute renal injury (AKI) is one of the most common causes of mortality in children admitted to intensive care units (PICU). Here, we investigated the preventive effect of N-acetylcysteine ​​(NAC) and Coenzyme Q10 on AKI among children admitted to PICU. Methods: This double-blind randomized clinical trial study was done on 78 children admitted to PICU in 2018. Patients were randomly divided into three groups including control, NAC (8 mg/kg/TDS) and Q10 (3 mg/kg/TDS) recipients. Results: The incidence of AKI in control, NAC and Q10 groups was 14.81%, 16% and 19.23%, respectively (p = 0.9). While AKI patients in control group showed the highest reduction of GFR values (26.32 ± 22.39%), patients in Q10 revealed the lowest GFR reduction (11.20 ± 6.83%). All AKI patients in Q10 group (100%) were treated at the end of the study, while all four patients in the control group had AKI till the end of the study. In NAC group, 2 out of 4. Conclusion: Q10 administration has protective effect against pediatrics AKI incidence. However, another clinical trial study with a larger sample size in different age groups seems to be valuable to confirm its efficacy.