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Beneficial aspects of high dose intravenous vitamin C on patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in severe condition: a retrospective case series study
Journal article   Open access

Beneficial aspects of high dose intravenous vitamin C on patients with COVID-19 pneumonia in severe condition: a retrospective case series study

Bing Zhao, Yun Ling, Jian Li, Yibing Peng, Jun Huang, Yihui Wang, Hongping Qu, Yuan Gao, Yingchuan Li, Bijie Hu, …
Annals of palliative medicine, Vol.10(2), pp.1599-11
02/01/2021
DOI: 10.21037/apm-20-1387
PMID: 33222462
url
https://doi.org/10.21037/apm-20-1387View
Published (Version of record) Open Access

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a global public health event without specific therapeutic agents till now. We aim to determine if high dose intravenous vitamin C (HDIVC) was effective for COVID-19 patients in severe condition. COVID-19 patients admitted in Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center from January 22, 2020 to April 11, 2020 were retrospectively scrolled. The enrolled patients were those with confirmed diagnosis of severe or critical COVID-19 pneumonia, who received HDIVC within 24 hours after disease aggravation. Main clinical outcomes obtained from 3-5 days (day 3) and 7-10 days (day 7) after HDIVC were compared to the ones just before (day 0) HDIVC. Totally, twelve patients were enrolled including six severe [age of mean, 56; interquartile range (IQR), 32-65 years, 3 men] and six critical (age of mean, 63; IQR, 60-82 years, 4 men) patients. The dosage of vitamin C [median (IQR), mg/kg (body weight)/day] were [162.7 (71.1-328.6)] for severe and [178.6 (133.3-350.6)] for critical patients. By Generalized estimating equation (GEE) model, C-reactive protein (CRP) was found to decrease significantly from day 0 to 3 and 7 (severe: 59.01±37.9, 12.36±22.12, 8.95±20.4; critical: 92.5±41.21, 33.9±30.2, 59.56±41.4 mg/L). Lymphocyte and CD4+ T cell counts in severe patients reached to normal level since day 3. Similar improving trends were observed for PaO2/FiO2 (severe: 209.3±111.7, 313.4±146, 423.3±140.8; critical: 119.9±52.7, 201.8±86.64, 190.5±51.99) and sequential organ failure assessment score (severe: 2.83±1.72, 1.33±1.63, 0.67±1.03; critical: 6.67±2.34, 4.17±2.32, 3.83±2.56). Better improving effect was observed in severe than critical patients after HDIVC. HDIVC might be beneficial in aspects of inflammatory response, immune and organ function for aggravation of COVID-19 patients. Further clinical trials are in warrant. This trial has been retrospectively registered in Chinese Clinical Trail Registry (ChiCTR2000032716) on May 8, 2020. http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=53389.
Administration, Intravenous Adult Aged Aged, 80 and over Ascorbic Acid - administration & dosage China COVID-19 - drug therapy Critical Illness Female Humans Male Middle Aged Retrospective Studies Vitamins - administration & dosage

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