effect of vitamin c supplementation on c-reactive protein levels in patients undergoing hemodialysis: a randomized, double blind, placebo-controlled study

background chronic inflammation is the most important cause of cardiovascular disease in patients undergoing hemodialysis, and vitamin c as a major antioxidant which could be effective to suppress inflammation. objectives this study was performed to evaluate the effect of vitamin c supplementation on c-reactive protein levels in patients undergoing hemodialysis. patients and methods this randomized, placebo-controlled and double-blind trial was conducted on 151 patients on hemodialysis who were divided randomly by lottery method to three identical groups. in the intervention group, 250 mg of vitamin c was injected intravenously immediately at the end of each hemodialysis session three times a week for 8 weeks in a row. in the control group 1, same term of placebo saline was injected, and in the control group 2, no intervention was performed. results a total of 86 (61%) male and 55 female patients with mean hemodialysis duration of 39.74 ± 45.5 months, and a mean age of 61.36 ± 11.46 years-old, participated in this study. hypertension and diabetes were the most common underlying diseases (79.4%). median baseline crp in the intervention, control 1 and control 2 groups were 16.8, 17.8, and 19.4 mg/l respectively. after 2 months, median crp reduced significantly in the vitamin c group to 10.7 (p = 0.04) vs. 22.6, and 30.6 mg/l in control groups. conclusions our findings demonstrated that vitamin c supplementation modifies the levels of crp in patients on hemodialysis.