Nutritional Advice El MondoObjectives:
Vitamin D modulates the systemic inflammatory response through interaction with immune system. As such, it has a possible protective role against the risk of respiratory tract infections and other diseases. It may be useful in particular, during COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, this review article has been conducted.
Do reduced vitamin D levels result in a higher infection risk, mortality and severity COVID-19 infection?
Study design:
This review article included 43 retrospective or observational studies (n = 612,601 patients), analyzing the effect of vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency and COVID-19 disease (infection, severity, or mortality). Among them, 8 reported on the therapeutic effect of supplementation on severity and mortality rate.
Results and conclusions:
The investigators found among subjects with deficient vitamin D values, risk of COVID-19 infection was higher compared to those with replete values [OR = 1.26, 95% CI = 1.19 to 1.34, p 0.01].
Where deficient (20 ng/mL) vitamin D cutoff was used, the risk of infection was 50 % higher compared to subjects with nondeficient values [OR = 1.50, 95% CI = 1.08 to 2.08, p = 0.02].
The investigators found vitamin D deficiency was also associated with worse severity and higher mortality than in nondeficient patients [OR = 2.6, 95% CI = 1.84 to 3.67, p 0.01 and OR = 1.22, 95% CI = 1.04 to 1.43, p 0.01, respectively].
The investigators found supplementation with various vitamin D doses significantly reduced the risk of severe forms and death events in COVID-19-infected patients [OR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.11 to 0.66, p 0.01 and OR = 0.41, 95% CI = 0.21 to 0.81, p = 0.01, respectively].
The investigators concluded reduced vitamin D values result in a higher infection risk, mortality and severity COVID-19 infection. Supplementation may be considered as preventive and therapeutic measure.
Original title:
Therapeutic and prognostic role of vitamin D for COVID-19 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis of 43 observational studies by Petrelli F, Luciani A, […], Ghidini A.
Link:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7997262/
Additional information of El Mondo:
Find more information/studies on vitamin D and coronavirus right here.