A team of researchers from Virginia Commonwealth University has recently published an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Their study suggests Vitamin C therapy can help alleviate the medical conditions of patients who are suffering from sepsis.
Inflammation in the bodily organs caused by an infection is referred to as sepsis. It is considered as one of the leading causes of death in the United States, with almost 300,000 deaths reported each year. The data is according to the report by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences.
The mortality rate among septic patients who received Vitamin C therapy intravenously was reduced by almost 30% on day 28.
"We may have found something to save septic patients. This therapy could transform the way sepsis patients are handled and cared for," said Alpha A. Fowler III, M.D., first author of the study and a professor at the Pulmonary Disease and Critical Care Medicine Division at the Department of Internal Medicine of the VCU School of Medicine. "While further research may be required, the results of the preliminary study that we did showed promising results."
Organ failure is one of the leading complications associated with sepsis. Sadly, such complication often leads to the patient's death. The study conducted has been specially designed to look into how Vitamin C therapy could alleviate the medical concerns of the patient. Known as the CITRIS-ALI, the trial involved patients who received vitamin C intravenously. Their observations show that these patients spent significantly less time in the Intensive Care Unit and the medical facility as a whole.
"The team has proceeded to doing the Phase 2 of the program to explore the possibility of vitamin C therapy as a better alternative for organ failure than the current standard care for sepsis patients," Fowler revealed. "Although the evidence does not clearly show if Vitamin C therapy lessens sepsis-induced organ failure in this stage of the trial, the reports show that it significantly reduced the amount of recovery time for many sepsis patients."
Disability, death, and ballooning healthcare costs are just a few of the major contributions of sepsis worldwide. In the U.S. alone, $23.7 billion accounts for hospital costs to treat patients with sepsis, data gathered from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
"Tens of thousands of dollars are spent on hospital costs to take care of a sepsis patient in the ICU," Fowler said. "Clinical studies like this that focus on improving sepsis care could mean significant cost on the overall health care industry in the US."
Further studies need to be conducted, but the preliminary results show significant hope that management of sepsis would improve to lessen deaths. More importantly, it would help reduce the overall health costs spent to care for patients with sepsis.
