Vitamin C Levels Amongst Initial Survivors of Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest.

INTRODUCTION: Vitamin C deficiency has been described in patients with sepsis. The post-cardiac arrest syndrome shares similarities to sepsis, however vitamin C levels in post-arrest patients have been incompletely characterized. We assessed vitamin C levels in a post-arrest population.

METHODS: This was a retrospective observational study at a tertiary care center. A convenience sample of post-arrest, sepsis, and healthy control patients was selected from prior studies. Vitamin C levels were measured from samples obtained within 6-hours of emergency department admission. A subset of cardiac arrest patients had vitamin C levels additionally measured at 24-hours later.

RESULTS: A total of 84 patients (34 healthy controls, 25 post-arrest, and 25 septic patients) were included. The median baseline vitamin C level in cardiac arrest patients was 0.33mg/dL (0.05-0.83), as compared to 0.91mg/dL (0.69-1.48) in the healthy control group (p<0.01) and 0.28mg/dL (0.11-0.59) in the septic group (p=0.36). Vitamin C levels for cardiac arrest patients fell between the two time points, but the change was not statistically significant (median decrease 0.26mg/dL, p=0.08).

CONCLUSIONS: Serum vitamin C levels were lower in post-arrest patients compared to controls and were similar to patients with sepsis. Future studies of vitamin C levels and supplementation following cardiac arrest may be warranted.