Vitamin D deficiency is associated with higher hospitalisation risk from COVID-19: a retrospective case-control study (June 2021)
Not funded
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34139758/
https://academic.oup.com/jcem/advance-article/doi/10.1210/clinem/dgab439/6303537
Large scale, retrospective case-control study
North West of England
Two hospital groups
Lancaster and Tameside and Glossop
Objective
Is hospitalisation with COVID-19 more prevalent with lower vitamin D levels
Individuals with results of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D)
1st April 2020 and 29th January 2021
Deficient = less than 25 nmol/L (10 ng/ml)
Insufficient = 25-50 nmol/L (10 to 20 ng/ml)
N = 80,670
1,808 were admitted to hospital with COVID-19
670 died
Primary cohort, n = 58,368
Median vitamin D levels in participants not hospitalised
50 nmol/L (20ng/ml)
(interquartile range, IQR 34.0-66.7 nmol/L)
Median vitamin D levels in participants hospitalised
35.0 nmol/L (14 ng/ml)
(interquartile range, 21.0-57.0nmol/L)
p less than 0.005
Similar findings in a validation cohort, n = 21,234
Non-hospitalised = 47.1 nmol/L (IQR 31.8-64.7 nmol/L)
Hospitalised patients = 33.0 (IQR 19.4-54.1 nmol/L)
p less than 0.005
Adjusted odds ratios
Age, sex, seasonal variation- for hospital admission
OR = 2.3-2.4 times higher, 25(OH)D less than 50 nmol/L
OR for validation cohort, adjusted, = 2.33
No association between low vitamin D levels and in-patient hospital mortality from COVID-
19 in either cohort.
Conclusions
Vitamin D deficiency is associated with higher risk of COVID-19 hospitalisation.
Widespread measurement of serum 25(OH)D and treating any unmasked insufficiency or deficiency through testing may reduce this risk
We have clearly demonstrated that vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency exponentially increase the risk of the disease by a factor of 2.3 to 3.6, even after adjustments for age and sex.
Vitamin D is anti-inflammatory, and it has been shown to modulate the immune ..
