The Study
Use of Intravenous Vitamin C in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19 Infection
This study looked at sick people who got vitamin C and compared them to others who didn’t, but the doctors chose who got the vitamin C—not randomly. So we can’t say the vitamin C caused the worse outcomes; maybe those patients were just sicker to begin with.
Analysis score
Maximum 72 for a cohort study.
Where the score came from
Doctors gave very high doses of vitamin C through an IV to very sick COVID patients to see if it helped them get better.
Where does this study sit?
Reviews of RCTs (Meta-analyses)
Max 100Randomized Trials
Max 90Reviews of Cohort Studies
Max 85Cohort Studies
Max 72Reviews of Case-Control Studies
Max 63Case-Control Studies
Max 58Cross-Sectional & Case Series
Max 50Expert Opinion
Max 534 / 100
Quality score
Groups of people are followed over time to see who develops an outcome. Strong for identifying risk factors and associations, but cannot prove causation as firmly as RCTs.
Key takeaways
Summary
Based on the study abstract and findings.
- 1Yes — 9% more deaths and significantly worse organ function suggest this treatment may have made things worse.
- 2Of the 8 patients who got vitamin C, 7 died (88%).
- 3Of the 24 who didn't, 19 died (79%).
- 4The vitamin C group also had worse organ damage scores.
Score breakdown, methodology, conflicts of interest, evidence analysis & raw study data
Publication
Journal
Journal of Pharmacy Practice
Year
2021
Authors
Matthew Li, Tsung Han Scottie Ching, Christopher Hipple, Ricardo Lopez, Asad Sahibzada, H. Rahman
Related Content
Claims (4)
In critically ill patients with COVID-19, receiving intravenous vitamin C at 1.5 grams every 6 hours for up to 4 days does not result in lower use of vasopressor drugs or shorter stays in the intensive care unit compared to similar patients who did not receive this treatment.
Critically ill COVID-19 patients receiving intravenous vitamin C at 1.5 grams every 6 hours for up to 4 days had higher rates of death and worse organ failure scores compared to those who did not receive this treatment.
In critically ill patients, high-dose intravenous vitamin C is associated with higher rates of death and organ failure.
In critically ill patients with COVID-19, receiving intravenous vitamin C at 1.5 grams every six hours for up to four days does not lead to greater improvement in organ function scores compared to patients who did not receive this treatment.
Not medical advice. For informational purposes only. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional before making health decisions.