The significance of oral ascorbic acid in patients with COVID-19

Patel et al., Chest Infections, doi:10.1016/j.chest.2020.08.322, Oct 2020
Mortality 29% improvement lower risk ← → higher risk Mortality b 16% Vitamin C  Patel et al.  LATE TREATMENT Is late treatment with vitamin C beneficial for COVID-19? Retrospective 176 patients in the USA Lower mortality with vitamin C (not stat. sig., p=0.18) c19early.org Patel et al., Chest Infections, October 2020 0 0.5 1 1.5 2+ RR
Vitamin C for COVID-19
6th treatment shown to reduce risk in September 2020, now with p = 0.00000002 from 75 studies, recognized in 22 countries.
Lower risk for mortality, ICU, hospitalization, and recovery.
No treatment is 100% effective. Protocols combine treatments.
6,300+ studies for 210+ treatments. c19early.org
Meta Analysis
Retrospective 176 hospitalized patients, 96 treated with oral vitamin C (from 500mg to 1500mg daily), showing lower mortality with treatment.
Although the 29% lower mortality is not statistically significant, it is consistent with the significant 20% lower mortality [10‑28%] from meta analysis of the 46 mortality results to date.
This is the 4th of 75 COVID-19 controlled studies for vitamin C, which collectively show efficacy with p=0.00000002 (1 in 50 million).
21 studies are RCTs, which show efficacy with p=0.0012.
Standard of Care (SOC) for COVID-19 in the study country, the USA, is very poor with very low average efficacy for approved treatments1. Only expensive, high-profit treatments were approved for early treatment. Low-cost treatments were excluded, reducing the probability of early treatment due to access and cost barriers, and eliminating complementary and synergistic benefits seen with many low-cost treatments. This may explain in part the very high mortality seen in this study. Results may differ in countries with improved SOC.
Important missing comments or errors? Let us know.
risk of death, 29.5% lower, RR 0.71, p = 0.18, treatment 22 of 96 (22.9%), control 26 of 80 (32.5%), NNT 10.
risk of death, 15.6% lower, RR 0.84, p = 0.60, treatment 15 of 30 (50.0%), control 16 of 27 (59.3%), NNT 11, ICU patients.
Effect extraction follows pre-specified rules prioritizing more serious outcomes. Submit updates
Patel et al., 1 Oct 2020, retrospective, USA, peer-reviewed, 8 authors, dosage 1000mg days 1-4, 500mg to 1500mg daily.
$0 $500 $1,000+ Efficacy vs. cost for COVID-19 treatment protocols c19early.org December 2025 USA Russia Sudan Angola Colombia Kenya Mozambique Vietnam Peru Philippines Spain Brazil Italy France Japan Canada China Uzbekistan Nepal Ethiopia Iran Ghana Mexico South Korea Germany Bangladesh Saudi Arabia Algeria Morocco Yemen Poland India DR Congo Madagascar Thailand Uganda Venezuela Nigeria Egypt Bolivia Taiwan Zambia Fiji Bosnia-Herzegovina Ukraine Côte d'Ivoire Bulgaria Greece Slovakia Singapore Iceland New Zealand Czechia Mongolia Israel Trinidad and Tobago Hong Kong North Macedonia Belarus Qatar Panama Serbia CAR USA favored high-profit treatments.The average efficacy of treatments was very low.High-cost protocols reduce early treatment, andforgo complementary/synergistic benefits. More effective More expensive 75% 50% 25% ≤0%
$0 $500 $1,000+ Efficacy vs. cost for COVID-19treatment protocols worldwide c19early.org December 2025 USA Russia Sudan Angola Colombia Kenya Mozambique Vietnam Peru Philippines Spain Brazil Italy France Japan Canada China Uzbekistan Nepal Ethiopia Iran Ghana Mexico South Korea Germany Bangladesh Saudi Arabia Algeria Morocco Yemen Poland India DR Congo Madagascar Thailand Uganda Venezuela Nigeria Egypt Bolivia Taiwan Zambia Fiji Ukraine Côte d'Ivoire Eritrea Bulgaria Greece Slovakia Singapore New Zealand Malawi Czechia Mongolia Israel Trinidad and Tobago North Macedonia Belarus Qatar Panama Serbia Syria USA favored high-profit treatments.The average efficacy was very low.High-cost protocols reduce early treatment,and forgo complementary/synergistic benefits. More effective More expensive 75% 50% 25% ≤0%
THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ORAL ASCORBIC ACID IN PATIENTS WITH COVID-19
Manishkumar Patel, Gloria Hong, Bernadette Schmidt, Laith Al-Janabi, Radha Kishan Adusumilli, Jurgena Tusha, Padmini Giri, Sarwan Kumar
Chest, doi:10.1016/j.chest.2020.08.322
Our observational study showed even when ascorbic acid is administered in oral form as an adjunct to COVID-19 therapy, it is associated with a mortality benefit and improved extubation rate. DISCLOSURES: No relevant relationships by Radha Kishan Adusumilli, source¼Web Response No relevant relationships by Laith Al-janabi, source¼Web Response No relevant relationships by Padmini Giri, source¼Web Response No relevant relationships by Gloria Hong, source¼Web Response No relevant relationships by Sarwan Kumar, source¼Web Response No relevant relationships by Manishkumar Patel, source¼Web Response No relevant relationships by Bernadette Schmidt, source¼Web Response No relevant relationships by Jurgena Tusha, source¼Web Response
DOI record: { "DOI": "10.1016/j.chest.2020.08.322", "ISSN": [ "0012-3692" ], "URL": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2020.08.322", "alternative-id": [ "S0012369220325083" ], "author": [ { "affiliation": [], "family": "Patel", "given": "Manishkumar", "sequence": "first" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Hong", "given": "Gloria", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Schmidt", "given": "Bernadette", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Al-janabi", "given": "Laith", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Adusumilli", "given": "Radha Kishan", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Tusha", "given": "Jurgena", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Giri", "given": "Padmini", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Kumar", "given": "Sarwan", "sequence": "additional" } ], "container-title": "Chest", "container-title-short": "Chest", "content-domain": { "crossmark-restriction": false, "domain": [] }, "created": { "date-parts": [ [ 2020, 10, 12 ] ], "date-time": "2020-10-12T10:45:50Z", "timestamp": 1602499550000 }, "deposited": { "date-parts": [ [ 2020, 12, 2 ] ], "date-time": "2020-12-02T15:14:58Z", "timestamp": 1606922098000 }, "indexed": { "date-parts": [ [ 2024, 3, 19 ] ], "date-time": "2024-03-19T07:16:51Z", "timestamp": 1710832611348 }, "is-referenced-by-count": 5, "issue": "4", "issued": { "date-parts": [ [ 2020, 10 ] ] }, "journal-issue": { "issue": "4", "published-print": { "date-parts": [ [ 2020, 10 ] ] } }, "language": "en", "license": [ { "URL": "https://www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/", "content-version": "tdm", "delay-in-days": 0, "start": { "date-parts": [ [ 2020, 10, 1 ] ], "date-time": "2020-10-01T00:00:00Z", "timestamp": 1601510400000 } } ], "link": [ { "URL": "https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0012369220325083?httpAccept=text/xml", "content-type": "text/xml", "content-version": "vor", "intended-application": "text-mining" }, { "URL": "https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0012369220325083?httpAccept=text/plain", "content-type": "text/plain", "content-version": "vor", "intended-application": "text-mining" } ], "member": "78", "original-title": [], "page": "A325", "prefix": "10.1016", "published": { "date-parts": [ [ 2020, 10 ] ] }, "published-print": { "date-parts": [ [ 2020, 10 ] ] }, "publisher": "Elsevier BV", "reference-count": 0, "references-count": 0, "relation": {}, "resource": { "primary": { "URL": "https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0012369220325083" } }, "score": 1, "short-title": [], "source": "Crossref", "subject": [ "Cardiology and Cardiovascular Medicine", "Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine", "Pulmonary and Respiratory Medicine" ], "subtitle": [], "title": "THE SIGNIFICANCE OF ORAL ASCORBIC ACID IN PATIENTS WITH COVID-19", "type": "journal-article", "volume": "158" }
Late treatment
is less effective
Please send us corrections, updates, or comments. c19early involves the extraction of 200,000+ datapoints from thousands of papers. Community updates help ensure high accuracy. Treatments and other interventions are complementary. All practical, effective, and safe means should be used based on risk/benefit analysis. No treatment or intervention is 100% available and effective for all current and future variants. We do not provide medical advice. Before taking any medication, consult a qualified physician who can provide personalized advice and details of risks and benefits based on your medical history and situation. IMA and WCH provide treatment protocols.
  or use drag and drop   
Submit    
Post
Share
@CovidAnalysis
FAQ
Public domain CC0 1.0