Vitamin C deficiency in a university teaching hospital

We measured plasma vitamin C concentrations in 149 patients admitted to a university teaching hospital. 60% of the patients had subnormal concentrations (< 28.4 μM). 19% had concentrations compatible with scurvy (< 11.4 μM), as compared with 3% of patients in a control group of presumably well‐nourished outpatients. Use of any vitamin supplement prior to hospitalization was associated with a normal vitamin C concentration in hospital (37 ± 4.3 μM); lack of such use was associated with a subnormal concentration (25 ± 1.5 μM; P = 0.0036). Thus, 36% of patients with a normal concentration had used a vitamin supplement prior to admission while only 7% of the frankly deficient patients had done so (P = 0.008). In a second sample, obtained in 48 patients after an average 16 days in hospital, the vitamin C concentration was lower (NS). Conclusions: Vitamin C status is inadequate in 60% of patients admitted to a university hospital and fails to improve there. Vitamin use prior to admission protects against subsequent deficiency in hospital. Vitamin C deficiencies as prevalent, severe, and sustained as observed in this study could worsen the clinical course of hospitalized patients. Supported by the Lotte and John Hecht Foundation and a Faculty of Medicine student research bursary.