Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28410599›Full record

ReviewJournal of translational medicine2017

The role of vitamin C in the treatment of pain: new insights.

Anitra C Carr, Cate McCall

Open access · goldAbstract readReview
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Review in Journal of translational medicine, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
71citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
8.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

71 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 153 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  7. Vitamin C demand is increased after total knee arthroplasty: a double-blind placebo-controlled-randomized study.Knee surgery, sports traumatology, arthroscopy : official journal of the ESSKA · 2019
    Trial
  8. Article
  9. Review
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  12. The role of vitamin C on the skin.South African family practice : official journal of the South African Academy of Family Practice/Primary Care · 2025
    Review
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  17. Article
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11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Anitra C CarrDepartment of Pathology, University of Otago, Christchurch, PO Box 4345, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand. anitra.carr@otago.ac.nz.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-5890-2977
Cate McCallCentre for Postgraduate Nursing Studies, University of Otago, Christchurch, PO Box 4345, Christchurch, 8140, New Zealand.
University of Otago · NZ

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The vitamin C deficiency disease scurvy is characterised by musculoskeletal pain and recent epidemiological evidence has indicated an association between suboptimal vitamin C status and spinal pain. Furthermore, accumulating evidence indicates that vitamin C administration can exhibit analgesic properties in some clinical conditions. The prevalence of hypovitaminosis C and vitamin C deficiency is high in various patient groups, such as surgical/trauma, infectious diseases and cancer patients. A number of recent clinical studies have shown that vitamin C administration to patients with chronic regional pain syndrome decreases their symptoms. Acute herpetic and post-herpetic neuralgia is also diminished with high dose vitamin C administration. Furthermore, cancer-related pain is decreased with high dose vitamin C, contributing to enhanced patient quality of life. A number of mechanisms have been proposed for vitamin C's analgesic properties. Herein we propose a novel analgesic mechanism for vitamin C; as a cofactor for the biosynthesis of amidated opioid peptides. It is well established that vitamin C participates in the amidation of peptides, through acting as a cofactor for peptidyl-glycine α-amidating monooxygenase, the only enzyme known to amidate the carboxy terminal residue of neuropeptides and peptide hormones. Support for our proposed mechanism comes from studies which show a decreased requirement for opioid analgesics in surgical and cancer patients administered high dose vitamin C. Overall, vitamin C appears to be a safe and effective adjunctive therapy for acute and chronic pain relief in specific patient groups.

Indexed as

AnalgesicsAnalgesics, OpioidAnimalsAscorbic AcidAscorbic Acid DeficiencyHumansPainAnalgesicsAnalgesics, OpioidAscorbic AcidCancer quality of lifeChronic regional pain syndromeOpioid requirementsPost-herpetic neuralgiaVitamin C

Identifiers

PMID28410599
PMCPMC5391567
OpenAlexW2606879662

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.