Anti-inflammatory response to curcumin supplementation in chronic kidney disease and hemodialysis patients: A systematic review and meta-analysis

This study was designed to determine the association curcumin has on pro-inflammatory biomarkers in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD (and in those receiving hemodialysis (HD).

This meta-analysis was undertaken following PRISMA guidelines. An extensive systematic review was undertaken until 10/11/2021 using PubMed, Web of Science (ISI), and Scopus databases. The standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used to estimate the overall effect size of curcumin on serum high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), and pro-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin 6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) in patients with CKD and those receiving HD.

Overall, ten randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comprising 523 patients were incorporated into the systematic review and meta-analysis. The results showed that when compared with control groups, there was no significant effect observed linking curcumin and IL-6 (SMD = 0.24%, 95% CI = -0.14 to 0.62, p = 0.221), TNF-α (SMD = 0.11%, 95% CI = -0.19 to 0.40, p = 0.480) or hs-CRP (SMD = -0.17%, 95% CI = -0.36 to 0.03, p = 0.093). The analysis determined no publication bias related to the influence of curcumin on IL-6, TNF-α or acute phase reactant, hs-CRP. The Egger’s and Begg’s test results were not statistically significant (p˃0.20).

In patients with CKD and those receiving HD, the use of curcumin supplementation has no statistically significant effect on the anti-inflammatory biomarkers reviewed in this study.