Efficacy / effectiveness of Ubiquinol® in treating chronic fatigue syndromes post acute COVID-19 syndromes
WorkSafeBC Evidence-Based Practice Group, Martin CW
Record ID 32018014878
English
Authors' objectives:
To determine whether there is any evidence on the efficacy/effectiveness of Ubiquinol® in treating chronic fatigue syndromes (CFS) or Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndromes (PACS).
Authors' results and conclusions:
Investigating the application of Ubiquinol® in treating CFS, identified six published studies. Upon examining the titles and abstracts of these six studies, two studies were thought to be relevant and were retrieved in full for further appraisal. Of these two studies, one study was in the form of a systematic review (level of evidence 1) reporting on the application of mitochondrial-targeting nutraceutical interventions for treating CFS; primary studies included in this systematic review were traced and we did not find any further primary studies. Hence, this systematic review will not be discussed further. A further search on investigating the application of Ubiquinol® in treating PACS, identified eight published studies. Upon examining the titles and abstracts of these eight studies, three studies were thought to be relevant and were retrieved in full for further appraisal. Of these three studies that were retrieved in full, one was in the form of systematic review (level of evidence 1) reporting on the balneotherapy for PACS and two small (n total=36) case-control studies (level of evidence 3), employing the same data sets, investigating the application of mountain spa rehabilitation and Ubiquinol® in treating patients diagnosed with PACS (unclear diagnostic criteria). We traced the systematic review paper and did not find any relevant primary study while the two case-control like studies, reporting on the same data set were thought to be irrelevant to the objective of this systematic review and will not be discussed further. Fukuda et al reported the outcomes of a small (n=20) case series (level of evidence 4) and a small (n total=31) randomized controlled trial (level of evidence 1) investigating the application of oral ubiquinol-10 supplementation in CFS patients. Both studies recruited patients from an outpatient clinic of a university hospital in Japan. In these two studies, CFS was diagnosed in accordance with the 1994 US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) clinical criteria. At present, there is some low-level low-quality evidence as well as some high-level lowquality evidence that Ubiquinol® does not have any beneficial effect on depression and fatigue in patients diagnosed with CFS. At present, there is no data to support the application of Ubiquinol® in treating patients diagnosed with PACS.
Authors' methods:
A comprehensive and systematic literature search was conducted on June 17, 2025. The search was done on commercial medical literature databases using a combination of keywords. No limitations, such as on the language or year of publication, were implemented in any of these searches. A manual search was also conducted on the references of articles that were retrieved in full
Details
Project Status:
Completed
URL for project:
https://www.worksafebc.com/en/about-us/research-services/evidence-based-medicine-and-systematic-reviews
Year Published:
2025
English language abstract:
An English language summary is available
Publication Type:
Mini HTA
Country:
Canada
MeSH Terms
- Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic
- Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome
- COVID-19 Drug Treatment
- Ubiquinone
- Antioxidants
- Coenzymes
- Vitamins
- Dietary Supplements
Keywords
- coenzyme Q10
- CoQ10
- Ubiquinol
- chronic fatigue syndrome
- COVID-19
- post COVID-19
Contact
Organisation Name:
WorkSafeBC
Contact Address:
6591 Westminster Highway, Richmond, BC, V7C 1C6 Canada. Tel: 604-231-8417; Fax: 604-279-7698
Contact Name:
ebpg@worksafebc.com
Contact Email:
ebpg@worksafebc.com
Copyright:
WorkSafe BC
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