HealthDay News — Vitamin D sufficiency is associated with reduced clinical severity, inpatient mortality, and serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) among patients infected with COVID-19, according to a study published online in PLOS ONE.
Zhila Maghbooli, PhD, from the Tehran University of Medical Sciences in Iran, and colleagues analyzed hospital data from 235 patients infected with COVID-19 to examine the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels and clinical outcomes.
The researchers found that 74% of the patients had severe COVID-19 infection based on US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria, and 32.8% were vitamin D-sufficient. A significant association was noted between vitamin D sufficiency and a reduction in clinical severity, lower serum levels of CRP, and an increase in the percentage of lymphocytes after adjustment for confounding variables. Overall, 16.3% of patients aged 40 years and older died of infection; of these patients, 9.7 and 20% were vitamin D-sufficient and had a circulating level of 25(OH)D <30 ng/mL, respectively.
Continue Reading
“Because vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency is so widespread in children and adults in the United States and worldwide, especially in the winter months, it is prudent for everyone to take a vitamin D supplement to reduce risk of being infected and having complications from COVID-19,” a coauthor said in a statement.
