Vitamin C Administration and Triglycerides Level in Critical Care Patients

Vitamin C (ascorbic acid) is a water-soluble vitamin with antioxidant properties. Previous studies showed that the administration of vitamin C was associated with decreased triglyceride (TG) levels in ambulatory patients, especially in patients with type 2 diabetes. The decrease in TG level was more significant the younger the patient's age (less than 52.8 years), the longer the administration of vitamin C lasted (over 12 weeks) and the higher the daily dose was (over 1 gram per day) (2). However, we did not find any studies that examined the relationship between administration of vitamin C and lowering of TG level in critical patients in intensive care. High TG levels are often found in these patients, secondary to sepsis, administration of propofol by continuous infusion, administration of TPN, pancreatitis, liver failure and chronic dyslipidemia, diabetes and chronic renal failure. High TG levels in these patients may cause pancreatitis secondary to elevated TG, and we take several actions to lower TG levels in the unit when they exceed 500 mg per dL in order to avoid these complications. The actions taken include starting treatment with fibrates and/or statins, giving high-dose insulin, stopping the propofol drip and changing it to another hypnotic drug (usually midazolam), and giving fat-free TPN instead of fat-containing TPN. There are of course disadvantages to these interventions, such as drug interactions, longer clearance time and higher incidence of delirium when g…

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