Efficacy, safety, and tolerability of combined pirfenidone and N-acetylcysteine therapy: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

While antifibrotic drugs significantly decrease lung function decline in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), there is still an unmet need to halt disease progression. Antioxidative therapy with N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is considered a potential additional therapy that can be combined with antifibrotics in some patients in clinical practice. However, data on the efficacy, tolerability, and safety of this combination are scarce. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to appraise the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of the combination compared to treatment with pirfenidone alone.

Methods

We systematically reviewed all the published studies with combined pirfenidone (PFD) and NAC (PFD + NAC) treatment in IPF patients. The primary outcomes referred to decl

SUBMITTER: Shi H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7204217 | biostudies-literature | 2020 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature