The Effect of Vitamin C on Atrial Fibrillation in Patients Underwent Coronary Artery Surgery; A Randomized Clinical Trial Study

One of the most common cardiac arrhythmias after coronary artery bypass graft surgery is atrial fibrillation, and its occurrence is associated with an increase in the length of hospitalization morbidity and postoperative mortality. Recently, the role of oxidative stress in the pathophysiology of this arrhythmia has been raised. Current research was done to assess the role of prescribing vitamin C in preventing this arrhythmia.

In this clinical trial study, 140 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery in Booali hospital, Qazvin, Iran, in the years 2016 to 2017 were randomly divided into two equal case and control groups. The case group received 1 g of vitamin C per day from 24 hours prior to 48 hours after surgery, and the control group received placebo at same time. Finally, data were analyzed using SPSS software, and incidence of postoperative atrial fibrillation was compared between the two groups.

Of 140 studied patients, 4 cases (5.7%) of the case group and 11 cases (15.71%) of control group had atrial fibrillation, and the difference between the two groups was significant (P = 0.028).

Our study showed that administration of oral vitamin C can effectively reduce the incidence of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass graft surgery.