Vitamin D Deficiency may Increase the Risk of Contracting COVID-19

Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased likelihood of becoming infected with the novel coronavirus, according to a retrospective study by the team of researchers at the University of Chicago Medicine.

"Vitamin D is important to the function of the immune system and vitamin D supplements have previously been shown to lower the risk of viral respiratory tract infections," said David Meltzer, MD, PhD, Chief of Hospital Medicine at UChicago Medicine and lead author of the study.

‘Vitamin D is vital to the function of the immune system and vitamin D supplements have been shown to lower the risk of viral respiratory tract infections.’

"Our statistical analysis suggests this may be true for the COVID-19 infection."

The research team studied 489 UChicago Medicine patients whose vitamin D level was measured within a year before being tested for COVID-19. Patients who had vitamin D deficiency (< 20ng/ml) that was not treated were almost twice as likely to test positive for the COVID-19 coronavirus compared to patients who had sufficient levels of the vitamin.

The study, Association of Vitamin D Status and Other Clinical Characteristics With COVID-19 Test Results, was published in JAMA Network Open. Findings were previously reported on medRxiv, a preprint server for the health sciences.

"Understanding whether treating Vitamin D deficiency changes COVID-19 risk could be of great importance locally, nationally and globally," Meltzer said. "Vitamin D is inexpensive, generally very safe to take, and can be widely scaled."

Researchers stress the importance of experimental studies to assess if vitamin D supplementation can reduce the risk, and potentially severity, of COVID-19.

They also highlight the need for studies of what methods for vitamin D supplementation may be more reliable in specific populations. They have initiated several clinical trials at UChicago Medicine and with partners locally.



Source: Eurekalert