Trends in Use of IV Vitamin C Among Patients With Sepsis
Authors' conclusion
IV vitamin C prescription for hospitalized patients with sepsis in the United States was overall infrequent over the 14-year study period, rising after the publication of a before-after study and declining in the COVID-19 pandemic as clinical trial results emerged.
Study context
- Population
- Adult inpatients with sepsis, 1,115 US hospitals, Premier Healthcare Database, 2008–2021Premier Healthcare Database
- Participants
- Eleven million three hundred seventy-five thousand three hundred twenty-six inpatients
- Outcome
- IV vitamin C use
Methodological detailsmulticentre database (Premier Healthcare Database)
- Multicentre database (Premier Healthcare Database)
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Overall, patients receiving IV vitamin C at any point during hospitalization (32,131)
- 0.3%
- 2008, quarter 1
- 0.5%
- 2017, quarter 1
- < 0.1%
- Peak, 2020, quarter 1
- 0.6%
- 2021, quarter 4
- 0.1%
- 2008 quarter 1 to 2015 quarter 3
- 0.2%
- 2015 quarter 4 to 2019 quarter 4
- 0.3%
- 2020-2021
- 0.3%
- Variation across the three predetermined periods
- p < 0.001
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Sicker subcohorts (early mechanical ventilation, early vasopressor use, COVID-19 2020-2021)
- Temporal trends similar
Between-hospital variability (multilevel logistic regression, 91 hospitals with ≥1 sepsis case per quarter)
- Similar utilization pattern; median OR
- 7.78 (95% CI 5.45-11.58)
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Trends in Use of IV Vitamin C Among Patients With Sepsis. Crit Care Med. Published 12 January 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →