When studied in 35 patients with heart failure, CoQ10 resulted in a significant improvement in severity of heart failure or symptom class. Exercise time also tended to improve. Additionally, a meta-analysis of 9 randomized trials of CoQ10 in heart failure showed a beneficial effect of CoQ10 in the amount of blood pumped out of the heart (ejection fraction) and reduced mortality. (7)
Several clinical trials have suggested benefits from coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) supplementation in patients with chronic heart failure (CHF). A meta-analysis by Soja and Mortensen that included 8 double-blind placebo-controlled studies reported a significant improvement in stroke volume, ejection fraction, cardiac output, cardiac index, and end-diastolic volume index, as a result of CoQ10 supplementation. In a separate meta-analysis of 11 studies with CoQ10 doses ranging from 60 to 200 mg/day and treatment periods ranging from 1 to 6 months, Sander et al. reported a 3.7% net improvement in the ejection fraction and an average increase in cardiac output of 0.28 l/min. In the current study, Molyneux and colleagues are the first to formally study the relationship between CoQ10 and outcomes in CHF in a longitudinal observational study. The study included 236 heart failure patients with a median age of 77 years. Plasma samples were analyzed for CoQ10 and other factors. Over the 5.75 year follow-up period, 39% of the participants who had CoQ10 levels lower than 0.63 micrograms per milliliter died, compared with only 22% of those whose levels were higher. This study also indicated that those with lower CoQ10 were 67% more likely to die. These findings suggests that CoQ10 levels are an independent predictor of survival in chronic heart failure patients. (8)