Vitamin D is VITAL to fighting COVID - John Campbell

prospective study in UK Biobank (29th January, 2021)

https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/advance-article/doi/10.1093/ajcn/nqaa381/6123965

The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Background

Vitamin D supplementation, lower risk of acute respiratory tract infection

Emerging evidence, vitamin D insufficiency is related to a higher risk of coronavirus infection and disease

Objectives

To investigate the prospective association between habitual use of vitamin D supplements and risk of COVID- 19 infection

Associations according to levels of circulating and genetically predicted vitamin D

Methods

N = 8,297 adults

Records of COVID-19 test results from UK Biobank

16 March 2020 to 29 June 2020

Results

Of the 8,297 adults, 1,374 (16.6%) tested positive

Vit D users, n = 363

Non-vit D users, n = 7,934

Unadjusted model

OR 0.78 (p = 0.105)

Adjustment for covariates

Age, sex, race, origin (outpatient or inpatient), blood-type, years of education, TDI, smoking, moderate drinking, physical activity, healthy diet score, use of any other supplements

Inverse association emerged

Between habitual use of vitamin D supplements and risk of COVID-19 infection

OR, 0.66, (P = 0.038)

Habitual use of vitamin D supplements was significantly associated with a 34% lower risk of COVID-19 infection

No association with baseline blood vitamin D levels and risk of COVID-19 infection

Associations between the risk of COVID-19 infection and habitual use of other individual supplements

Vitamin A, vitamin B, vitamin C, vitamin E, folic acid, a
multivitamin,

Calcium, zinc, iron, selenium, glucosamine, fish
Oil

Vitamin D Deficiency and Outcome of COVID-19 Patients

Medical University Hospital Heidelberg, (September 2020)

https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/9/2757

Identification of modifiable prognostic factors may help to improve outcomes

N = 185, diagnosed and treated in Heidelberg

Median Vitamin D level was 16.6 ng/ml

Associations of vitamin D status with disease severity and survival

Vitamin D status assessed at first presentation

Deficient

25-hydroxyvitamin D (Calcifediol)
level less than 12 ng/mL ( less than 30 nM)

N = 41 (22%)

Median IL-6 levels at hospitalization were significantly higher

70.5 versus 29.7 pg/mL

Insufficiency

Less than 20 ng/mL (less than 50 nM)

N = 118 (64%)

Higher levels

N = 26

Median Vitamin D level was significantly lower in the inpatient versus the outpatient subgroup

Results

Median observation period of 66 days

93 (50%) patients required hospitalization

28 patients required ventilation

Including 16 deaths

Adjusting for age, sex, comorbidities

Deficiency was associated with higher risk of ventilation and death

Mechanical ventilation

HR 6.12

p less than 0.001

Death

HR 14.73

p less than 0.001

Other hazard ratios

Male, 1.69 2.5

Over 60, 3.2 7.7

Comorbidity, 2.7 5.3

Need for interventional studies

Cholecalciferol

Calcifediol

Active form of vitamin D3, 1, 25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25D3), calcitriol, is
pluripotent hormone and important modulator of both innate and adaptive immunity