Conclusions Our meta- analysis indicates that vitamin C may prevent post-operative atrial fibrillation in some countries outside of the USA , and it may also shorten the duration of hospital stay and ICU stay of cardiac surgery patients .
Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that is safe and inexpensive .
Background Atrial fibrillation ( AF ) , a common arrhythmia contributing substantially to cardiac morbidity , is associated with oxidative stress and , being an antioxidant , vitamin C might influence it .
Effect of oral vitamin C on atrial fibrillation development after isolated coronary artery bypass grafting surgery: A prospective randomized clinical trial.
BACKGROUND Some evidence s have shown the role of antioxidant vitamins in preventing  atrial fibrillation ( AF ) after coronary artery bypass grafting ( CABG ) surgery . We sought to determine the effect of oral vitamin C on the incidence of postoperative AF in patients undergoing elective isolated on-pump CABG surgery . METHODS One-hundred patients who underwent isolated CABG surgery  were prospect ively assigned into two groups : Group 1 - 50 patients received 2 g of oral vitamin C before and 500 mg twice daily lasting for 5 days after surgery ; Group 2 - 50 patients as the control group did not receive any . All patients were continuously monitored after surgery in the intensive careunit ( ICU ) , and then Holter monitoring was implemented for 72 h. RESULTS The mean of patients ' age was 61.31 ± 6.42 years . Postoperative AF occurred in 16 and 4 patients in control and treatment groups , respectively ( 32 % vs. 8 % , p = 0.003 ) . The ICU stay was 1.79 ± 0.313 and 2.10 ± 0.61 days for vitamin C and control groups , respectively ( p = 0.002 ) . The hospital stay was significantly lower in vitamin C group compared with that of the control group ( 5.32 ± 0.59 vs. 5.74 ± 1.30 days , respectively , p = 0.041 ) . Baseline erythrocyte sedimentation rate ( OR 1.030 , 95 % CI 1.003 - 1.058 , p = 0.030 ) and taking vitamin C ( OR 8.068 , 95 % CI 1.783 - 36.517 , p = 0.007 ) were the independent predictors of postoperative AF . CONCLUSIONS Oral vitamin C can be safely used to decrease the incidence of postoperative AF in patients undergoing elective isolated on-pump CABG surgery
Conclusions Our meta- analysis indicates that vitamin C may prevent post-operative atrial fibrillation in some countries outside of the USA , and it may also shorten the duration of hospital stay and ICU stay of cardiac surgery patients .
Vitamin C is an essential nutrient that is safe and inexpensive .
Background Atrial fibrillation ( AF ) , a common arrhythmia contributing substantially to cardiac morbidity , is associated with oxidative stress and , being an antioxidant , vitamin C might influence it .