Study summary · research use only
[Geroprotective effect of thymalin and epithalamin]
Plain-language summary
Paraphrased from the published abstract below — not a verdict on whether anything works.
This clinical study followed 266 elderly and older persons over 6-8 years (with the peptide bioregulators Thymalin and Epithalamin given during the first 2-3 years) at two Russian research institutes. The authors reported that treated groups showed a 2.0-2.4-fold decrease in acute respiratory disease incidence and reduced reported rates of ischemic heart disease, hypertension, osteoarthrosis, and osteoporosis compared to controls. Mortality during observation was reported as 2.0-2.1-fold lower in the Thymalin group, 1.6-1.8-fold lower in the Epithalamin group, and 2.5-fold lower in the combined-treatment group versus controls; a separately followed group treated annually for 6 years showed a 4.1-fold lower mortality rate than controls. The authors concluded the bioregulators had geroprotective effects in this population.
Abstract
Researchers of the St. Petersburg Institute of Bioregulation and Gerontology of the North-Western Branch of the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences and the Research Institute of Gerontology of the Ukrainian Academy of Medical Sciences (Kiev) clinically assessed the geroprotective effects of thymic and epiphyseal peptide bioregulators (Thymalin and Epithalamin, correspondingly) in 266 elderly and older persons during 6-8 years (the bioregulators were applied for the first 2-3 years of observation). The obtained results convincingly confirmed the ability of the bioregulators to normalize the basic functions of the human organism, i.e. to improve the indices of the cardiovascular, endocrine, immune, and nervous systems, homeostasis, and metabolism. The restoration of homeostasis in the patients was accompanied by a 2.0-2.4-fold decrease in acute respiratory disease incidence, reduced incidence ischemic heart disease clinical manifestations, hypertension, deforming osteoarthrosis, and osteoporosis, as compared to the control group. Such a significant improvement in the somatic state of the peptide-treated patients corresponded to a decrease in their mortality rate during the observation period: 2.0-2.1-fold among the Thymalin-treated patients, 1.6-1.8-fold--in the Epithalamin-treated group, and 2.5-fold--in the patients treated with Thymalin combined with Epithalamin, as compared to the control group. A separate group of patients was treated with Thymalin combined with Epithalamin annually for 6 years. We registered a 4.1-fold mortality decrease in this group as compared to the control level. The results of our research confirmed the conclusion on the high geroprotective efficacy of Thymalin and Epithalamin and the expediency of their application in medicine and social care as the means of health maintenance and age-related pathology prevention in persons over 60 years old enabling the prolongation of the active period of their lives.
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