Evaluation of the Safety of Intravenous Thiamine Administration in a Large Academic Medical Center

Previous literature describes increased incidence of infusion-related reactions when administering thiamine doses greater than 100 mg as an intravenous (IV) push. The purpose of this evaluation was to assess the safety of administering higher doses of thiamine as IV push compared to infusion.

A single-center, retrospective review was performed from June to October 2017. Included patients were aged 18 years or older and received 1 dose of IV thiamine 200 mg or greater. Patients were divided into 2 groups: group 1 included patients who received 200-mg IV push and, group 2 included patients who received any dose greater than 200 mg. The primary objective was to quantify and compare rate of adverse reactions between the 2 groups. Institutional thiamine prescribing practices were examined. Wilcoxon Rank Sum and Fischer exact tests were performed.

Sixty-six percent of patients were male, and the median age was 55 years (interquartile range [IQR]: 44-63). Fifty percent received 200-mg IV push, 20% received a combination of IV infusion and IV push, and 30% received IV infusion. Adverse reactions possibly due to thiamine administration occurred in 4 (2.0%) patients. One patient received 200 mg via IV infusion, while 3 received 200 mg via IV push. There was no significant difference in adverse reaction rate between IV push and IV infusion administrations (P = .640).

Our results support administering thiamine doses of 200 mg or less as an IV push. Given lack of robust safety data, it is recommended to continue to dilute doses greater than 200 mg and infuse over 30 minutes.