ReviewNutrients2020
Vitamin C-An Adjunctive Therapy for Respiratory Infection, Sepsis and COVID-19.
Review in Nutrients, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to 2 registered trials, which are not on this map. Cited by 101 papers, 8 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Effect of Vitamin C on Postoperative Pulmonary Complications After Intracranial: a Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled Study
The Synergistic Action of Vitamins and Dietary Supplements in Patients With Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting for Improving the Quality of Healthcare Delivery.
Who cites it
101 citing papers in PubMed, 8 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 184 citations in OpenAlex.
- Improvement of Lung Function by Micronutrient Supplementation in Patients with COPD: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2024Pooled it
- Clinical trials on the pharmacological treatment of long COVID: A systematic review.Journal of medical virology · 2023Pooled it
- Vitamins C and D and COVID-19 Susceptibility, Severity and Progression: An Evidence Based Systematic Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Pooled it
- The effectiveness of high-dose intravenous vitamin C for patients with coronavirus disease 2019: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Complementary therapies in medicine · 2022Pooled it
- COVID-19-Associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (CARDS): Mechanistic insights on therapeutic intervention and emerging trends.International immunopharmacology · 2021Pooled it
- Micronutrients Deficiency, Supplementation and Novel Coronavirus Infections-A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Nutrients · 2021Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Adjunctive intravenous then oral vitamin C for moderate and severe community-acquired pneumonia in hospitalized adults: feasibility of randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2023Trial
- Potential Clinical Benefits of Quercetin in the Early Stage of COVID-19: Results of a Second, Pilot, Randomized, Controlled and Open-Label Clinical Trial.International journal of general medicine · 2021Trial
- Vitamins impacting mental/physical well-being during viral pandemics: a mechanistic review based on COVID-19: a comprehensive review.Inflammopharmacology · 2026Review
- Harnessing Vitamin C: Unveiling Its Potential in Cancer Prevention and Treatment.Current medicinal chemistry · 2026Review
- Effect of high-dose intravenous vitamin C on organ support-free days within the first 14 days in severe acute pancreatitis patients: a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial protocol.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Vitamin C is associated with improved outcomes in patients with sepsis-induced myocardial injury: insights from the MIMIC-IV database.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Integrative Transcriptomic and Metabolomic Analysis Reveals ThatInternational journal of molecular sciences · 2025Article
- The Role of Nutraceuticals in Age-Related Ocular Diseases.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- Exploring the influence of vitamin C concentrations on the dynamics of RT-PCR assay reactions.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Interplay Between Nutrition and Microbiota and the Role of Probiotics and Symbiotics in Pediatric Infectious Diseases.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Nutrition, Lifestyle, and Environmental Factors in Lung Homeostasis and Respiratory Health.Nutrients · 2025Review
- Targeting sepsis through inflammation and oxidative metabolism.World journal of critical care medicine · 2025Review
41 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
7 authors at 4 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
There are limited proven therapies for COVID-19. Vitamin C's antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and immunomodulating effects make it a potential therapeutic candidate, both for the prevention and amelioration of COVID-19 infection, and as an adjunctive therapy in the critical care of COVID-19. This literature review focuses on vitamin C deficiency in respiratory infections, including COVID-19, and the mechanisms of action in infectious disease, including support of the stress response, its role in preventing and treating colds and pneumonia, and its role in treating sepsis and COVID-19. The evidence to date indicates that oral vitamin C (2-8 g/day) may reduce the incidence and duration of respiratory infections and intravenous vitamin C (6-24 g/day) has been shown to reduce mortality, intensive care unit (ICU) and hospital stays, and time on mechanical ventilation for severe respiratory infections. Further trials are urgently warranted. Given the favourable safety profile and low cost of vitamin C, and the frequency of vitamin C deficiency in respiratory infections, it may be worthwhile testing patients' vitamin C status and treating them accordingly with intravenous administration within ICUs and oral administration in hospitalised persons with COVID-19.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.