Comparison of the efficacy between NAC and metformin in treating PCOS patients: a meta-analysis

Abstract

Our aim is to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and safety by comparing N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC) with metformin administrated by polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) patients. Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials (RCTs). MEDLINE, EMBASE, Web of Science and China National Knowledge Infrastructure were searched for studies. 10 studies were considered eligible for inclusion. NAC significantly reduced BMI and total testosterone, there was no significant difference in pregnancy rate, serum LH level, fasting insulin, and LH/FSH ratio. In conclusions, NAC may be considered as an alternative supplement to metformin, but large-scale randomized controlled trials are needed to assess the efficacy and safety of NAC in PCOS patients.

摘要

我们的目的是比较乙酰半胱氨酸（NAC）和二甲双胍在多囊卵巢综合征（PCOS）患者中临床疗效和安全性。对于随机对照的临床试验的结果进行了系统回顾和荟萃分析。检索了MEDLINE、EMBASE、Web of Science和中国国家文献知识库。最终有10项研究被认为符合纳入标准。NAC显著降低BMI和总睾酮水平, 但在妊娠率、血清LH水平、空腹胰岛素、LH/FSH比值两个药物之间无显著性差异。总之, NAC可以作为二甲双胍的替代性治疗, 但仍需要大样本的随机对照试验来评估NAC对PCOS患者的疗效和安全性。

The Chinese abstracts are translated by Prof. Dr. Xiangyan Ruan and her team: Beijing Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100026, China.

Keywords:

• N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC)
• metformin
• polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)

Acknowledgements

We thank the staff of Obstetrics and Gynecology Department in the third hospital of Wuhan for their contribution.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest.