Early administration of hydrocortisone vitamin C and thiamine in adult patients with septic shock: a randomized controlled clinical trial
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18203/2349-3933.ijam20250371Keywords:
Hydrocortisone, Mortality, SOFA score, Septic shock, Thiamine, Vitamin CAbstract
Background: Hydrocortisone, vitamin C and thiamine have been suggested as a possible treatment for sepsis and septic shock. However, many trials do not support their use therefore this RCT was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of early administration (within 12 hours of diagnosis) of triple therapy (hydrocortisone, vitamin C and thiamine) in patients of septic shock in north Indian population. The primary objective was to determine the effect of combination on all-cause mortality at day 14. Secondary objectives were change in sofa score at day 3 and day 7, time to shock reversal (in hours) and mean length of hospital stay.
Methods: This single centre double blinded RCT was conducted in LLR and Associated hospitals, Kanpur between June, 2023 and June, 2024. The patients were randomly assigned to either Interventional group (n=75) or PLACEBO group (n=75). Interventional group received inj. hydrocort 200 mg once a day, inj. vitamin C 1 gm iv 3 times a day, thiamine 200mg iv 2 times a day for 5 day or until ICU discharge, the patients were then followed up for 14 days.
Results: Delta sofa score at day 3 and 7 were not statistically significant (p values- 0.5, 0.241). Significant results were obtained in mean length of hospital stay (11.87 vs 14 days, p value 0.005) and Mean time to shock reversal (176.33 vs 204.40 hours, p value<0.001). Mortality at day 14 was lesser in the interventional group (34.67% vs 45.33%, p value 0.205, statistically insignificant).
Conclusions: Thus, in patients with septic shock early treatment (within 12 hours of diagnosis) with injection hydrocortisone, vitamin c and thiamine does not confer mortality benefit but it decreases the length of hospital stay and time to shock reversal.
Metrics
References
Dellinger RP, Levy MM, Rhodes A, Annane D, Gerlach H, Opal SM, et al. Surviving sepsis campaign: international guidelines for management of severe sepsis and septic shock: 2012. Crit Care Med. 2013;41(2):580–637. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1097/CCM.0b013e31827e83af
Singer M, Deutschman CS, Seymour CW, Shankar-Hari M, Annane D, Bauer M, et al. The third international consensus definitions for sepsis and septic shock (Sepsis-3). JAMA. 2016;315(8):801–10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2016.0287
Jones AE, Puskarich MA. The surviving sepsis campaign guidelines 2012: update for emergency physicians. Ann Emerg Med. 2014;63(1):35-47. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.annemergmed.2013.08.004
Tintinalli JE, Stapczynski JS, Ma OJ, Yealy DM, Meckler GD, Cline DM, editors. Tintinalli’s emergency medicine: a comprehensive study guide. Ninth edition. New York: McGraw-Hill Education; 2020: 2114.
Rudd KE, Johnson SC, Agesa KM, Shackelford KA, Tsoi D, Kievlan DR, et al. Global, regional and national sepsis incidence and mortality, 1990–2017: analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study. The Lancet. 2020;395(10219):200–11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(19)32989-7
Venkatesh B, Finfer S, Cohen J, Rajbhandari D, Arabi Y, Bellomo R, et al. Adjunctive Glucocorticoid Therapy in Patients with Septic Shock. N Engl J Med. 2018;378(9):797–808. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1705835
Juneja D, Nasa P, Jain R. Current role of high dose vitamin C in sepsis management: A concise review. World J Crit Care Med. 2022;11(6):349–63. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5492/wjccm.v11.i6.349
Zhang Q, Raoof M, Chen Y, Sumi Y, Sursal T, Junger W, et al. Circulating mitochondrial DAMPs cause inflammatory responses to injury. Nature. 2010;464(7285):104–7. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature08780
Lyu QQ, Zheng RQ, Chen QH, Yu JQ, Shao J, Gu XH. Early administration of hydrocortisone, vitamin C and thiamine in adult patients with septic shock: a randomized controlled clinical trial. Crit Care. 2022;26(1):295. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-022-04175-x
Rochwerg B, Alhazzani W, Sindi A, Heels-Ansdell D, Thabane L, Fox-Robichaud A, et al. Fluid Resuscitation in Sepsis: A Systematic Review and Network Meta-analysis. Ann Intern Med. 2014;161(5):347. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7326/M14-0178
11. Jones AE. Lactate clearance vs central venous oxygen saturation as goals of early sepsis therapy randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2010;303(8):739. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2010.158
Na W, Shen H, Li Y, Qu D. Hydrocortisone, ascorbic acid and thiamine (HAT) for sepsis and septic shock: a meta-analysis with sequential trial analysis. J Intensive Care. 2021;9:75. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s40560-021-00589-x
Balakrishnan M, Gandhi H, Shah K, Pandya H, Patel R, Keshwani S, et al. Hydrocortisone, Vitamin C and thiamine for the treatment of sepsis and septic shock following cardiac surgery. Indian J Anaesth. 2018;62(12):934–9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/ija.IJA_361_18
Fujii T, Luethi N, Young PJ, Frei DR, Eastwood GM, French CJ, et al. Effect of Vitamin C, hydrocortisone and thiamine vs hydrocortisone alone on time alive and free of vasopressor support among patients with septic shock: The vitamins randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2020;323(5):423. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2019.22176
Marik PE, Khangoora V, Rivera R, Hooper MH, Catravas J. Hydrocortisone, vitamin C and thiamine for the treatment of severe sepsis and septic shock. Chest. 2017;151(6):1229–38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2016.11.036
Iglesias J, Vassallo AV, Patel VV, Sullivan JB, Cavanaugh J, Elbaga Y. Outcomes of metabolic resuscitation using ascorbic acid, thiamine and glucocorticoids in the early treatment of sepsis. Chest. 2020;158(1):164–73. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2020.02.049
Moskowitz A, Huang DT, Hou PC, Gong J, Doshi PB, Grossestreuer AV, et al. Effect of ascorbic acid, corticosteroids and thiamine on organ injury in septic shock: The ACTS randomized clinical trial. JAMA. 2020;324(7):642. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2020.11946