China: High-dose intravenous vitamin C (HIVC) has the potential to be an adjuvant therapy for the management of hyper-inflammation in patients with severe COVID-19, suggests results from a recent study. The study findings appear in the journal Nutrition.
Hyper-inflammation in severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) patients often leads to acute respiratory failure and multiorgan dysfunction. However, no optimal strategy is currently available to work well against hyper-inflammation caused by SARS-CoV-2, and symptomatic supportive care is the mainstay of treatment. Therefore, there is a need for an effective pharmaceutical approach to the grim situation. HIVC is a major concern when treating patients with COVID-19.
Hyperinflammation may be a potential therapeutic target for severe COVID-19 disease because it is relatively common and can facilitate disease development. Considering this, Guozhi Xia, Second Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Shaanxi Province, China, and colleagues aimed to assess the clinical efficacy of HIVC on hyper-inflammation in patients with severe COVID-19 in a retrospective cohort study.
The study included hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19, a subset of whom was treated with HIVC. The medical records were screened for demographic data, laboratory findings, and medications, as well as initial and repeated values of multiple inflammatory markers for analysis.
Key findings of the study include:
A high percentage of patients presented with hyperinflammation based on inflammatory marker levels above the upper limit of normal (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, 80.1%; interleukin-6, 91.5%; and tumor necrosis factor-α, 67.4%).
36% patients received HIVC therapy. After treatment with HIVC, the levels of inflammatory markers displayed a significant decrease compared with those of patients without HIVC.
The percentages of reduction in inflammatory marker levels were higher in patients receiving HIVC compared with those in patients treated without HIVC.
Stepwise multiple linear regression analysis revealed that HIVC was independently associated with percentages of reduction in levels of inflammatory markers.
"Our findings showed that HIVC has the potential benefit of attenuating hyperinflammation by reducing inflammatory marker levels in patients with severe COVID-19," concluded the authors.
Reference:
The study titled, "High-dose intravenous vitamin C attenuates hyperinflammation in severe coronavirus disease 2019," is published in the journal Nutrition.
DOI: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0899900721002677