TABLE 1.
Summary of the retrieved trials investigating the effect of CoQ10 on reducing fatigue in the enrolled participants.
| First author (year) | Country | Population | Participants (F/M) | Age a | Study design | Allocation concealment | Randomization | Funding/grants/support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berman (2004) | Israel | End-stage heart failure | Total: 4/28 b | 54.6 (40-67) b | RCT, double-blind | External party | Not mentioned | N/A |
| Lee (2011) | Korea | Obesity | CoQ10: 15/11
b
Placebo: 15/10 |
42.7±11.3
b
42.5±11.2 |
RCT, double-blind | Not mentioned | Not mentioned | N/A |
| Cordero (2013) | Spain | Fibromyalgia | CoQ10: 10/0
b
,
c
Placebo: 10/0 |
44.3±9.7
b
,
c
55.0±5.0 |
RCT, double-blind | Not mentioned | Not mentioned | N/A |
| Lesser (2013) | USA | Breast cancer under chemotherapy | CoQ10: 122/0
b
Placebo: 114/0 |
52 (31-85)
b
50 (28-72) |
RCT, double-blind | Not mentioned | Stratified block | • National Cancer Institute |
| Castro-Marrero (2015) | Spain | Chronic fatigue syndrome | CoQ10+NADH: 39/0
b
,
c
Placebo: 34/0 |
49.3±7.1 b , c | RCT, double-blind | Not mentioned | Not mentioned | • Vitae Natural Nutrition, S.L. |
| Fukuda (2015) | Japan | End-stage renal disease | CoQ10 mix drink: 17/70
c
Placebo: 15/71 |
55.6±10.0
c
56.2±8.9 |
RCT, double-blind | Coordination center | Stratified | • Asahi Kasei Kuraray Medical Cooperation• Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (Japan)• Health Labor Sciences Research Grant (Japan) |
| Peel (2015) | Australia | Poliomyelitis | CoQ10: 39/15
b
,
d
Placebo: 32/17 |
69.9±8.4
b
69.8±8.2 |
RCT, double-blind | Coordination center | Matrix sequence | • Cancer and Polio Research Fund (UK) |
| Sanoobar (2016) | Iran | Multiple sclerosis | CoQ10: 20/2
c
Placebo: 21/2 |
33.1±7.6
c
30.9±7.7 |
RCT, double-blind | Not mentioned | Not mentioned | • Tehran University of Medical Sciences |
| Di Pierro (2017) | Italy | Fibromyalgia | CoQ10: 12/0
b
,
c
Placebo: 10/0 |
52.5±10.4
b
,
c
53.6±7.8 |
RCT, open-label | Coin tossing | Coin tossing | N/A |
| Morikawa (2019) | Japan | Healthy subjects | CoQ10: 16/14
b
Placebo: 16/14 |
40.5±7.3
b
42.9±7.3 |
RCT, double-blind | Not mentioned | Stratified block | • Kaneka, Inc. |
| Mizuno (2020) | Japan | Healthy subjects with fatigue | CoQ10: 28/14
b
,
c
Placebo: 13/7 |
42.1±10.9
b
,
c
41.3±13.4 |
RCT, double-blind | Not mentioned | Stratified | • Kaneka, Inc.• Japan Science and Technology Agency |
| Mousavi (2020) | Iran | Health subjects (nurses) with fatigue | CoQ10: 47/7
c
Placebo: 45/6 |
35.1±8.1
c
35.7±8.9 |
RCT, double-blind | Assignment double-blinded | Permuted block | • Isfahan University of Medical Sciences |
| Castro-Marrero (2021) | Spain | Chronic fatigue syndrome | CoQ10+NADH: 72/0
c
Placebo: 72/0 |
45.38±7.81
c
46.79±6.48 |
RCT, double-blind | Independent investigator | Random number | • Vitae Health Innovation• Vall d’Hebron Hospital Research Institute |
CoQ10, coenzyme Q10; NADH, reduced form of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide; RCT, randomized controlled trial; UK, United Kingdom; USA, United States of America.
a
Age is presented as means ± standard deviations or as medians (ranges).
b
Allocated participants.
c
Per-protocol participants.
d
The total sample size of the CoQ10 group was retrieved from data presented in Figure 1 and Table 2 due to inconsistency in Table 1.