Vitamin C and Septic Shock

July 13, 2021 updated by: University of Minnesota

Evaluating Vitamin C in Septic Shock: A Randomized Double Blind Placebo Controlled Trial

This is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial to compare Vitamin C versus placebo for patients presenting to the ICU with a diagnosis of septic shock.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

This is a multi-site, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial comparing a regimen of moderate-dose (6000 mg per day) Vitamin C supplementation versus placebo for the treatment of patients presenting to the ICU with septic shock. Both groups will continue to receive all other standard of care measures for septic shock as clinically indicated. Groups will be enrolled and receive study drug/placebo for 4 days (96 hours) or until 24 hours post-last pressor dose, whichever is sooner.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

125

Phase

  • Phase 2
  • Phase 3

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Minnesota
      • Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, 55455
        • University of Minnesota Medical Center

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (ADULT, OLDER_ADULT)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • • Capability to provide written consent from participant or legally authorized representative (LAR) if the participant is unable or incapacitated due to severity of illness.

    • Age ≥ 18 years
    • Septic shock as pragmatically defined as:

      o Order for intravenous antimicrobials with either procalcitonin > 2 mg/dL within 24 hours of enrollment OR other clinical suspicion of infection or confirmed infection AND

    • Hypotension requiring vasopressor therapy, despite fluid resuscitation of at least 30 cc/kg AND
    • Lactate > 2 mmol/L 24 hr prior to enrollment AND
    • Presence of sepsis defined as equal to or greater than 2 SIRS criteria and/or acute increase in qSOFA score of 2 points or more.

      • SIRS criteria: 1) Temperature greater than 38° or less than 36° Celsius. 2) Heart rate greater than 90 beats per minute. 3) Respiratory rate greater than 20 breaths per minute OR arterial carbon dioxide tension less than 32 mmHg. 4) White blood cell count greater than 12,000 cell/µL, less than 4,000 cells/µL, OR band cells greater than 10% of the total white blood cell population.
      • qSOFA: 1 point each is assigned for: 1) systolic blood pressure below 100, 2) respiratory rate greater than 22, and 3) mental status not at baseline.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • • Unable to start infusion within 24 hours of septic shock identification

    • Currently pregnant or breastfeeding
    • Patient to receive comfort measures only
    • Cardiac Arrest
    • Cardiovascular Surgery patients receiving prophylactic peri-operative antibiotics < 48 hours post-operation
    • Participation in another study involving an investigational product within 30 days of the baseline visit
    • Allergy to Vitamin C
    • History of nephrolithiasis
    • History of G6PD deficiency
    • ESRD patients, transplant eligible on dialysis currently taking vitamin C supplementation
    • Clinical course that treating clinician decides would preclude safe participation

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: TREATMENT
  • Allocation: RANDOMIZED
  • Interventional Model: PARALLEL
  • Masking: QUADRUPLE

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
SHAM_COMPARATOR: Placebo
Placebo designed to mimic intervention
Placebo designed to mimic intervention
ACTIVE_COMPARATOR: Intervention
6000 mg per day Vitamin C supplement
Continuous infusion of vitamin C
Other Names:
  • ascorbic acid

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of Participants With ICU Mortality
Time Frame: 28 days
Outcome is reported as the number of patients who expired while receiving care in the intensive care unit (ICU).
28 days
All Cause Mortality at 28 Days
Time Frame: 28 days
Outcome is reported as the number of participants who have expired at 28 days post intervention
28 days

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Duration of Vasopressor Therapy
Time Frame: 28 days
Outcome is reported as the duration in hours of vasopressor therapy post intervention administration
28 days
Duration of ICU Stay Post Intervention Administration
Time Frame: 28 days
Outcome is reported as the duration (in days) that participants require care in the intensive care unit (ICU) post intervention administration
28 days
Time to Lactate Clearance Post Intervention Administration
Time Frame: 28 days
28 days
Rate of Lactate Clearance Post Intervention Administration
Time Frame: 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours post intervention
Outcome is reported as the number of participants who clear lactate from the bloodstream at 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours post intervention. Clearance is defined as a serum concentration of 2.0 mmol/l or less.
24, 48, 72, and 96 hours post intervention
Rate of Procalcitonin Clearance Post Intervention Administration
Time Frame: 4 days
4 days
Number of Participants With Need for Renal Replacement Therapy
Time Frame: 4 days
Outcome is reported as the number of participants who require renal replacement therapy
4 days
Change in Serum Creatinine
Time Frame: Baseline and 4 days
Outcome is report as the change in serum creatinine between baseline and 4 days following treatment. Outcome is reported in units of mg/dl.
Baseline and 4 days
Change in Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) Score
Time Frame: Baseline and 4 days
SOFA score is a mortality prediction score that is based on the degree of dysfunction of 6 organ systems. Total scores range from 0 to 24, with higher scores indicating higher likely mortality.
Baseline and 4 days
Change in Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) Scores
Time Frame: Baseline and 4 days
APACHE score is a severity-of-disease classification system that is calculated from a patient's age and 12 routine physiological measurements. Total scores are computed based on several measurements and range from 0 to 71 with higher scores corresponding to more severe disease and a higher risk of death.
Baseline and 4 days
Total Intravenous Fluid Administered
Time Frame: 24 hours
Outcome is reported as the total volume of intravenous fluid (in liters) administered to participants during 24 hours following the initiation of study treatment.
24 hours

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (ACTUAL)

December 20, 2017

Primary Completion (ACTUAL)

June 30, 2020

Study Completion (ACTUAL)

August 10, 2020

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

October 31, 2017

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 8, 2017

First Posted (ACTUAL)

November 9, 2017

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (ACTUAL)

July 14, 2021

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

July 13, 2021

Last Verified

July 1, 2021

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • STUDY00000625

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

UNDECIDED

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

Yes

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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