Serum Levels of Vitamin C and Vitamin D in a Cohort of Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients of a North American Community Hospital Intensive Care Unit in May 2020: A Pilot Study
Arvinte et al.,
Serum Levels of Vitamin C and Vitamin D in a Cohort of Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients of a North American..,
Med. Drug Discov, doi:10.1016/j.medidd.2020.100064
Pilot study with 21 ICU patients finding low serum levels of vitamin C and vitamin D in most patients. Older age and low vitamin C level appeared to be co-dependent risk factors for mortality.
Arvinte et al., 8 Sep 2020, peer-reviewed, 3 authors.
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Medicine in Drug Discovery 8 (2020) 100064
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Original Clinical Research Report
Serum Levels of Vitamin C and Vitamin D in a Cohort of Critically Ill COVID19 Patients of a North American Community Hospital Intensive Care Unit in
May 2020: A Pilot Study☆
⁎
Cristian Arvinte, MD a, , Maharaj Singh, PhD b,c, Paul E. Marik, MD, FCCP, FCCM d
Intensivist & Pulmonologist, North Suburban Medical Center, Thornton, Colorado 80229, USA
Research Assistant Professor, Biostatistics, Research and Graduate Studies, Marquette University, School of Dentistry, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53201, USA
Biostatistician Senior, Advocate Aurora Research Institute, Advocate Aurora Health Care, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53233, USA
d
Chief, Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk, Virginia 23507, USA
a
b
c
A R T I C L E
I N F O
Article history:
Received 11 August 2020
Received in revised form 29 August 2020
Accepted 9 September 2020
Available online 18 September 2020
Keywords:
COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
Critical illness
Intensive care unit (ICU)
Serum vitamin C
Serum vitamin D
Age
Body mass index (BMI)
HbA1c (glycated hemoglobin)
A B S T R A C T
Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has placed an enormous and growing burden on the population and health infrastructure, warranting innovative ways to mitigate risk of contracting and developing severe forms of this disease.
A growing body of literature raises the issue of vitamin C and vitamin D as a risk-assessment tool, and therapeutic option, in COVID-19.
Objective: The objective of this pilot study was to measure serum vitamin C and vitamin D levels in a cohort of patients
with critical COVID-19 illness in our community hospital ICU, correlate with other illness risk factors (age, BMI,
HgbA1c, smoking status), generate hypotheses, and suggest further therapeutic intervention studies.
Method: This pilot study included all 21 critically ill COVID-19 patients hospitalized in May 2020 in the ICU of North
Suburban Medical Center, Thornton, Colorado, in whose care the principal investigator (C.A.) was involved. We measured patients’ serum vitamin C and vitamin D levels, and standard risk factors like age, BMI, HbA1c, and smoking status. Variables in this study were gauged using descriptive statistics.
Results: Of 21 critically ill COVID-19 patients (15 males and 6 females, 17 Hispanic and 4 Caucasian, of median age 61
years, range 20–94), there were 11 survivors.
Serum levels of vitamin C and vitamin D were low in most of our critically ill COVID-19 ICU patients.
Older age and low vitamin C..
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