Vitamin C deficiency and impact of vitamin C administration among pediatric patients with advanced chronic kidney disease

Background Vitamin C deficiency is common in chronic kidney disease (CKD) due to losses through dialysis and dietary intake below requirement. We investigated prevalence of vitamin C deficiency and impact of vitamin C treatment in deficient/insufficient patients. Methods A prospective cohort study in patients aged 1–18 years with CKD stages 4 and 5D collected demographic data including underlying disease, treatment, and anthropometric assessment. Vitamin C intake was assessed using 24-h dietary recall. Hemoglobin, iron status, serum vitamin C, and serum oxalate were measured at baseline and after treatment. Vitamin C (250 mg/day) was given orally for 3 months to deficient/insufficient patients. Results Nineteen patients (mean age 12.00 ± 4.1 years) showed prevalence of 10.6% vitamin C insufficiency and 78.9% deficiency. There were no associations between vitamin C level and daily vitamin C intake ( p = 0.64) or nutritional status ( p = 0.87). Median serum vitamin C was 1.51 (0.30–1.90) mg/L. In 16 patients receiving treatment, median serum vitamin C increased from 1.30 (0.23–1.78) to 3.22 (1.77–5.96) mg/L ( p = 0.008) without increasing serum oxalate (79.92 (56.6–106.84) vs. 80.47 (56.88–102.95) μmol/L, p = 0.82). However, 62.5% failed to achieve normal vitamin C levels. Ordinal regression analysis revealed patients with non-oligoanuric CKD were less likely to achieve normal vitamin C levels ( β = − 3.41, p = 0.03). Conclusion We describe high prevalence of vitamin C insufficiency/deficiency among pediatric CKD patients. Vitamin C levels could not be solely predicted by nutritional status or daily intake. The treatment regimen raised serum vitamin C without increasing serum oxalate; however, it was largely insufficient to normalize levels, particularly in non-oligoanuric CKD. Graphical abstract .