The effectiveness of vitamin C for patients with severe viral pneumonia in respiratory failure

Vitamin C is a well-known antioxidant and essential cofactor for numerous biological reactions. Several studies reported that vitamin C can improve the symptoms and prognosis of patients with sepsis and respiratory infection. We aimed to examine the effect of vitamin C when used in viral pneumonia patients with severe respiratory failure. Total 201 patients with viral pneumonia were included, of them 35 patients used vitamin C. We performed a statistical analysis through a propensity score matching of the age and baseline characteristics of these patients. There were differences between the vitamin C group and non-vitamin C group in terms of age (60±15 66±14, P=0.03), extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (28.6% 5.4%, P