Effects of Levocarnitine on Nutritional Status and Microinflammatory in Maintenance Hemodialysis Patients

Objective To investigate the effects of levocamitine on microinflammatomy and nutritional status in maintenance hemodialysis( MHD) patients. Methods Sixty-eight patients suffering from MHD for over six months were randomly divided into two group. The observation group( n = 35) was treated with intravenous injection of levocarnitine as well as recombinant human erythropoietin,chalybeate,folic acid and so on. The control group( n = 33) was treated with recombinant human erythropoietin,chalybeate,folic acid and so on,but without levocarnitine. Hemoglobin( Hb),albumin( ALB),total cholesterol( TC),triglyceride( TG),low density lipoprotein-cholesterol( LDL-C),high density lipoproteincholesterol( HDL-C),high- sensitivity C-reactive protein( hs-CRP),interleukin-6( IL-6),interleukin-8( IL-8) and tumor necrosis factor( TNF-α) were measured in two groups before and three months after treatment. Results The serum levels of Hb and ALB increased significantly in the observation group after treatment compared with those before treatment( P 0. 05),which were significantly higher than the controls after treatment( P 0. 05). The serum levels of TC,TG,LDL-C and HDL-C after treatment showed no significant difference in contrast with those before treatment in the observation group( P 0. 05). The serum levels of Hb,ALB,TC,TG,LDL-C and HDL-C after treatment showed no significant difference in contrast with those before treatment in the control group( P 0. 05). The levels of hs-CRP,IL-6, IL-8 and TNF-α decreased significantly in the observation group after treatment compared with those before treatment( P 0.05),which were significantly lower than the controls after treatment( P 0.05). The levels of hs-CRP,IL-6,IL-8 and TNF-α after treatment showed no significant difference in contrast with those before treatment in the control group( P 0.05). Conclusion Levocarnitine can significantly improve microinflammation and nutrition status in MHD patients.