Vitamin C does not significantly improve outcomes of ICU patients

DELHI: Refuting the claims of previous studies that demonstrated the role of vitamin C in shortening intensive care unit (ICU) stay in critically ill patients, a recent review has found that vitamin C administration is associated with no significant effect on survival, length of ICU or hospital stay.

The study, published in the journal Critical Care Medicine, further found that in cardiac surgery, beneficial effects of Vitamin C on postoperative atrial fibrillation,intensive care unit (ICU) or hospital length of stay remain unclear.

Alessandro Putzu, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland, and colleagues conducted this meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to determine the effects of vitamin C administration on clinical outcome in critically ill patients.

The authors included randomized controlled trials on the use of vitamin C (any regimen) in adult critically ill patients versus placebo or no therapy. On the basis of this, forty-four randomized studies, 16 performed in intensive care unit (ICU) settings (2,857 patients) and 28 in cardiac surgery (3,598 patients), published between 1995 and 2018, were included in the analysis.

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They found that:

• In ICU patients, vitamin C administration was not associated with a difference in mortality, acute kidney injury, ICU or hospital length of stay compared with control.


• In cardiac surgery, vitamin C was associated with a reduction in postoperative atrial fibrillation, ICU stay, and hospital stay.


• No differences in postoperative mortality, acute kidney injury, stroke, and ventricular arrhythmia were found.

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"The quality and quantity of evidence, however, is still insufficient to draw firm conclusions, not supporting neither discouraging the systematic administration of vitamin C in these populations. Vitamin C remains an attractive intervention for future investigations aimed to improve clinical outcome," wrote the authors.

For detailed study log on to doi: 10.1097/CCM.0000000000003700