<p>Effects of Alpha-Lipoic Acid Supplementation on Cardiovascular Disease Risk Factors in β-Thalassemia Major Patients: A Clinical Trial Crossover Study</p>

Abstract

Aim: Thalassemia is one of the most common genetic diseases, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) has been considered as the leading cause of mortality in more than 50% of β-thalassemia patients. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) on CVD risk factors in β-thalassemia major patients. Methods: Twenty β-thalassemia major patients participated in this randomized crossover clinical trial study. Participants were randomly assigned to ALA (600 mg/day) or placebo groups for two 8-wk interventions that were separated by a 3-wk washout period. The CVD risk factors including serum osteoprotegerin (OPG), homocysteine, lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A 2 and trimethylamine N-oxide were measured at the beginning and the end of each intervention phase according to the standard protocol. Results: Serum OPG reduced significantly in the ALA group in all participants (5.38 ± 2.79 to 3.27 ± 2.43 ng/mL, P= .003) and in the male subgroup (5.24 ± 2.56 to 3.13 ± 2.5 ng/mL, P= .015); this reduction was significant in comparison with the placebo group (P= .013). The changes in other CVD risk factors were not significant. Conclusion: The results of this study showed that after 8-wk of ALA consumption, the serum OPG reduced significantly in β-thalassemia major patients. Therefore, controlling the serum OPG level with ALA consumption can be an important complementary therapeutic option to prevent the progression of CVD in β-thalassemia major patients.

Evaluation of Transfusion-Related Hemodynamic Parameters in Patients with Beta-Thalassemia Major by Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Method

“…The study was conducted with, 9 (30%) female and 21 (70%) male, 30 patients. The mean age of the patients was determined as 10.98±6.30 (3)(4)(5)(6)(7)(8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14)(15)(16)(17)(18)(19)(20)(21)(22) years. Other demographic data of study participants are summarized in Table 1.…”

“…The hemodynamic effects of blood transfusion are not an area that has been emphasized much. It is known that cardiovascular risks are increased in patients with BTM [12]. These increased risks may be related to the variability of blood pressure in the patient.…”

Safety Evaluation of α-Lipoic Acid Supplementation: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Placebo-Controlled Clinical Studies

“…Additional 139 papers were excluded due to being pre-print papers ( n = 2), study protocols ( n = 6), reporting data from studies lacking of an appropriate placebo-controlled design for the supplementation ( n = 64), lacking of randomisation ( n = 5), testing the acute effect of ALA supplementation ( n = 7), testing ALA supplementation combined in nutraceutical compounds ( n = 27), testing intravenous treatment with ALA ( n = 11), testing topical treatment with ALA ( n = 4), lacking sufficient information about the nature of the adverse events ( n = 9), or reporting data overlapped with other publications ( n = 4) ( Supplementary file B ). Finally, 71 studies were eligible and included in the systematic review [ 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 ,…”

Effects of alpha lipoic acid on iron overload, lipid profile and oxidative stress indices in β‐thalassemia major patients: A cross‐over randomised controlled clinical trial

“…The ability of ALAto reduce the MDAand recycle the glutathione, α‐tocopherol and ascorbic acid has been demonstrated in several studies 16,17 . In addition, our previous studies showed that ALA can decrease a new cardiovascular disease risk factor, ie osteoprotegrin, 18 with no effect on serum iron and total iron binding capacity in thalassemia patients 19…”