| July
29, 2005
Vitamin C Can Help Stabilize Heart Rhythm
Oral vitamin C appears to cut the risk of early recurrence of
abnormal health rhythm, as know as atrial fibrillation, after
patients undergo electrical cardioversion, according to a new
study. Vitamin C also appears to reduce the low-level inflammation
that accompanies this condition.
Early atrial fibrillation recurrence after cardioversion may
be due to electrophysiological changes in the chambers of the
heart, known as atrial remodeling, Dr. Panagiotis Korantzopoulos
of 'G. Hatzikosta' General Hospital in Ioannina, Greece, and colleagues
report in the International Journal of Cardiology.
Animal studies have shown vitamin C can help prevent such remodeling,
they note, and the vitamin has been shown to reduce atrial fibrillation
after cardiac surgery.
To investigate whether vitamin C can reduce atrial fibrillation
recurrence, the team randomized 44 consecutive patients who had
undergone cardioversion for persistent atrial fibrillation to
standard therapy plus oral vitamin C or standard treatment only.
Patients given the vitamin received a 2-gram loading dose 12 hours
before cardioversion and 500 mg twice daily for the next seven
days.
One (4.5 percent) of the patients given vitamin C had a relapse
of atrial fibrillation, while eight (36.3 percent) of patients
not given the vitamin did.
The researchers also found that white blood cell levels and fibrinogen
levels fell significantly in the group given vitamin C, but did
not drop in the control patients. Markers of inflammation were
also significantly higher among patients who had a recurrence
of atrial fibrillation, compared with those who did not.
Korantzopoulos and colleagues point out that extensive damage
has been identified in the hearts of atrial fibrillation patients,
and there is also increasing evidence for a link between atrial
fibrillation and inflammation.
While the study is small, they say, their findings show approaches
targeting the oxidative damage and inflammation involved in atrial
fibrillation are worth pursuing.
Source: www.nlm.nih.gov |
