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Updated: Mar 25, 2026
Assessment of Vascular Function in Patients With Chronic Kidney Disease
Published on: June 16, 2014
Effect of vitamin C on endothelial function of children with chronic renal failure: An experimental study
Mohammad Reza Sabri1, Esfandiar Najafi Tavana1, Alireza Ahmadi1
1Department of Pediatrics, Child Growth and Development Research Center, Research Institute for Primordial Prevention of Non-communicable Disease, Isfahan University of Medical Sciences, Isfahan, Iran.
Insights
Vitamin C supplementation improved endothelial function markers in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) and healthy children. This suggests a potential protective role for vitamin C in managing cardiovascular risks associated with CKD.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Nephrology
- Cardiovascular Health
- Nutritional Science
Background:
- Endothelial dysfunction (ED) is a precursor to cardiovascular disease (CVD) in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.
- Improving ED can mitigate CVD morbidity and mortality in pediatric CKD.
- Vitamin C's potential role in improving ED markers in children with CKD warrants investigation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess the efficacy of vitamin C in improving endothelial function in children with chronic renal failure (CRF).
- To evaluate changes in flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and intima-media thickness (IMT) as surrogate markers of ED.
Main Methods:
- An analytic-experimental study involving children aged 3-18 years with CRF and a healthy control group.
- Vitamin C (250 mg/day) was administered for one month.
- Endothelial function was assessed using vascular Doppler ultrasonography to measure FMD and IMT before and after intervention.
Main Results:
- 18 children with CRF and 19 healthy children participated.
- After vitamin C administration, IMT significantly decreased in both groups (P < 0.05).
- FMD increased in both groups, with a significant increase observed in the control group (P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
- Vitamin C demonstrates a potential protective effect on endothelial dysfunction in children with CRF.
- The findings suggest vitamin C may benefit patients with severe forms of CRF-related ED.
- Larger sample sizes are recommended for more conclusive evidence.
Background:
It is well established that improvement of endothelial dysfunction (ED) could prevent or delay the occurrence of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and its related morbidity and mortality in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). In this study we investigated whether administration of vitamin C could be effective by improving brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and intima media thickness (IMT), two surrogate markers of ED, in children with CKD or chronic renal failure (CRF).
Materials And Methods:
In this analytic-experimental study children aged 3-18 years with a diagnosis of CRF and a group of healthy children were enrolled. Vitamin C (250 mg/day) administrated for the two studied groups for 1 month. Endothelial function was evaluated by FMD and IMT measurement using vascular Doppler ultrasonography, before and after trial.
Results:
In this study 18 patients with CRF and 19 normal children as the control group were studied. At baseline mean of IMT and FMD was not different in the two studied groups (P > 0.05). After vitamin C administration IMT decreased significantly in the two studied groups (P < 0.05). FMD increased in the two studied groups but the difference was significant in the control group (P < 0.05).
Conclusion:
The findings of this interventional trial have demonstrated that vitamin C could have protective effect on ED of patients with CRF possibly in those with severe form of the disease but for obtaining more conclusive results larger sample size is needed.
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