Vitamin regimens showed no clear survival benefit in septic shock
A network review reported advantages for some hospital outcomes, but no statistically significant mortality differences for the vitamin regimens assessed against controls.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
The review reported shorter intensive care and hospital stays with vitamin D, and an improved organ dysfunction score with vitamin D plus probiotics. However, the reported comparisons did not establish a survival benefit. These findings concern patients with septic shock and do not support conclusions about routine vitamin supplementation in other populations.
The abstract describes shorter stays but gives positive mean differences without explaining the subtraction direction or time units. It also omits mortality effect estimates, so the uncertainty around those comparisons cannot be assessed.
What researchers found
28-day mortality
Versus controls: vitamins B, C, D; D plus probiotics; C plus B; and hydrocortisone plus C plus B.
Different outcomes answer different questions
Length of stay, organ dysfunction scores, ventilation time, and mortality were evaluated separately. An advantage on hospital stay or a score should not be treated as evidence that a treatment helps patients survive.
The treatments were not interchangeable
The review included individual vitamins and combinations containing probiotics or hydrocortisone. Results for a combination apply to that regimen; the abstract does not isolate which ingredient accounts for a reported difference.
The original publication
Effects of different vitamins on individuals with septic shock: a Bayesian NMA of RCTs.
Tian J, Long L, Li D et al.
Front Nutr · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 40880742
- Record checked
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