Early use of high-dose vitamin C is beneficial in treatment of sepsis.

Abstract

Vitamin C has shown benefits in patients with sepsis in addition to standard therapy recently. However, further evidence is required to verify the efficacy of vitamin C in clinical practice. This study aimed to investigate the effect of adjunctive intravenous high-dose vitamin C treatment on hospital mortality in patients with sepsis. One hundred seventeen patients with sepsis in our department from June 2017 to May 2019 were randomly divided into two groups: the control group (56 cases) and the vitamin C group (61 cases). The control group was treated by the routine and basic therapy with intravenous drip of 5% dextrose and placebo (100ml/time, 2 times/day), while the vitamin C group was administered intravenously by 3.0g vitamin C dissolved into 5% dextrose (100ml/time, 2 times/day) based on the control group. The mortality and efficacy were statistically analyzed and compared between the two groups. The 28-day mortality differed significantly between the control group and the vitamin C group (42.97% vs. 27.93%) (p < 0.05). The changes in the sepsis-related organ failure assessment (ΔSOFA) scores at 72h after ICU admission (4.2 vs. 2.1), the application time of vasoactive drugs (25.6 vs. 43.8), and the procalcitonin clearance (79.6% vs. 61.3%) differed significantly between groups (p < 0.05). The early treatment of sepsis with intravenous high-dose vitamin C in combination with standard therapy showed a beneficial effect on sepsis, in terms of the reduced 28-day mortality, the decreased SOFA score, and the increased clearance rate of procalcitonin.