研究人員隨機分配420名患者接受安慰劑或每日300毫克輔酶Q10（每日三次，每次服100毫），爲期兩年。研究人員會檢視各項數據，如發病率和死亡率、每天症狀變化和腦鈉肽（NT-proBNP）水平(一種N-末端激素原生物標誌物)。NT-proBNP水平高與心臟衰竭情況惡化相關。
這項研究的結果提供了許多有用數據。僅三個月後，服用輔酶Q10的組別的NT-proBNP水平有顯著降低的趨勢。研究結束時，輔酶Q10組別的再次住院率和再發生心臟病率都減少達一半。
這項研究的結果毫不含糊。對於心衰患者，有必要建議他們服用輔酶Q10，這對減少發病風險非常有效。而對於這些比較幸運的非心臟衰竭人士，透過補充輔酶Q10或泛醌(ubiquinol)也是健康首選。
參考資料：European Journal of Heart Failure. 2013 15( S1 ): S20.
A recent placebo-controlled trial, called the Q-SYMBIO study, followed heart failure (HF) patients taking co-enzyme Q10 (CoQ10) daily for two years. The researchers found striking differences in both short-term symptoms and long-term incidence of another heart attack or death.
Researchers randomly assigned 420 HF patients to placebo or 300 mg/day CoQ10 (100 mg, t.i.d.) for two years. The researchers monitored outcomes, such as morbidity and mortality, daily symptoms and a biomarker called N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). Higher levels of NT-proBNP strongly correlate with worse outcomes in HF.
The results of this study provide hard data for what many suspected. After only three months there was a trend toward reduced NT-proBNP levels in the CoQ10 group. Such that by the end of the study, the CoQ10 group saw their chances of being hospitalized for another major cardiac event decreased by a factor of two.
The Q-SYMBIO results are unequivocal. For HF patients, CoQ10 use should be strongly considered especially with the context of the attractive risk-benefit profile. And for those people who are lucky enough to not be a heart failure patient? Supporting adequate levels through supplementation with CoQ10, or ubiquinol, may be even more worthwhile than previously thought.
European Journal of Heart Failure. 2013 15( S1 ): S20.
