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Maintenance N-acetyl cysteine treatment for bipolar disorder : a double-blind randomised placebo controlled trial

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posted on 2012-01-01, 00:00 authored by Michael BerkMichael Berk, Olivia DeanOlivia Dean, S Cotton, C Gama, F Kapczinski, Brisa Simoes Fernandes, K Kohlmann, S Jeavons, K Hewitt, K Moss, C Allwang, I Schapkaitz, H Cobb, A Bush, Seetal DoddSeetal Dodd, G Malhi
Background N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) is a glutathione precursor that has been shown to have antidepressant efficacy in a placebo-controlled trial. The current study aimed to investigate the maintenance effects of NAC following eight weeks of open-label treatment for bipolar disorder.

Method The efficacy of a double blind randomized placebo controlled trial of 2 g/day NAC as adjunct maintenance treatment for bipolar disorder was examined. Participants (n = 149) had a Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Score of [greater than or equal to]12 at trial entry and, after eight weeks of open-label NAC treatment, were randomized to adjunctive NAC or placebo, in addition to treatment as usual. Participants (primarily outpatients) were recruited through public and private services and through newspaper advertisements. Time to intervention for a mood episode was the primary endpoint of the study, and changes in mood symptoms, functionality and quality of life measures were secondary outcomes.

Results There was a substantial decrease in symptoms during the eight-week open-label NAC treatment phase. During the subsequent double-blind phase, there was minimal further change in outcome measures with scores remaining low. Consequently, from this low plateau, between-group differences did not emerge on recurrence, clinical functioning or quality of life measures.

Conclusions There were no significant between-group differences in recurrence or symptomatic outcomes during the maintenance phase of the trial; however, these findings may be confounded by limitations. Trial Registration The trial was registered with the Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ACTRN12607000074493).

History

Journal

BMC medicine

Volume

10

Issue

91

Pagination

1 - 11

Publisher

BioMed Central

Location

London, England

ISSN

1741-7015

Language

eng

Notes

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2012, Berk et al.