N-acetylcysteine (NAC) for Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
Status:
Completed
Trial end date:
2018-02-15
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) affects 1-3% of children. The investigators
currently have effective first-line interventions for pediatric OCD such as Cognitive
Behavioral Therapy (CBT) and pharmacotherapy with serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SRIs).
However, roughly half of children with OCD still have clinically significant OCD symptoms
despite treatment with first-line pharmacological treatments and CBT interventions for OCD.
Furthermore, all pharmacological treatments for OCD in children have an increased side effect
burden when compared to adults. Novel treatments for children with OCD are needed.
N-acetylcysteine (NAC) is a natural supplement that acts as an antioxidant and a glutamate
modulating agent. NAC has been used safely for decades in doses 20-40 times higher than in
this trial as an antidote for acetaminophen overdose. The only side-effect commonly seen with
NAC is nausea and this side-effect is seldom seen in the doses used in this trial.
NAC has recently been demonstrated to be effective in a double-blind, placebo-controlled
trial in adults with trichotillomania (chronic hair pulling). Trichotillomania is an
obsessive-compulsive spectrum disorder that is hypothesized to be closely related to OCD. In
other trials NAC has evidence of some efficacy in treating diverse psychiatric conditions
such as bipolar depression, schizophrenia and cocaine dependence.
The investigators are conducting this trial to determine if NAC is effective in treating OCD.