Inability to recruit sufficient number of patients

After spinal cord injury, patients have frequent urinary tract infections (UVI). Vitamin C is usually prescribed to prevent such infection, but the efficacy of the treatment is poorly documented. In the study, patients will be randomised either to receive vitamin C daily, or not, for one year, and clinical episodes of UVI will be registered. The null hypothesis is that vitamin C will not reduce the number of UVI episodes by 30%.

The study is an investigator-blind randomised parallel study on the efficacy of vitamin C to prevent urinary tract infections in stable, ambulatory spinal cord-injured patients. To be included, patients should have had at least 3 previous UVI episodes over the last two years. 40 patients are included. Patients are randomised to receive either 1 g vitamin C b.i.d. over 1 year, or no vitamin C. The main outcome is the number of clinical UVIs that have been treated with antibiotics.

Inclusion Criteria:

• spinal cord injury
• 3 or more episodes of UVI over previous 2 years

Exclusion Criteria:

• pregnancy
• age <18
• continuous use of antibiotics, hippuric acid or crane berry juice