Effect of vitamin A supplementation on the outcome severity of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients: A pilot randomized clinical trial

Abstract

Introduction Vitamin A is one of the vitamins that is suggested as adjuvant therapy in viral infections due to its immune enhancing role. In the present clinical trial, we intended to assess the effect of vitamin A supplementation on Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) in hospitalized patients. Methods The present pilot randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted on 30 hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Patients in the intervention group received 50000 IU/day intramuscular vitamin A for a maximum of two weeks. Patients in the control group continued their common treatment protocols. All participants were followed up until discharge from the hospital or death. The primary outcome of the study was time to achieve clinical response based on the six classes of an ordinal scale. Time to clinical response was calculated based on the days needed to improve two scores on the scale or patient's discharge. Results The time to clinical response was not significantly different between the two groups (7.23 ± 2.14 vs. 6.75 ± 1.85 days, respectively, p = 0.48). There was no significant difference between the groups regarding clinical response (hazard ratio: 1.76 [95% CI: 0.73, 4.26]). There were no significant differences between groups regarding the need for mechanical ventilation, duration of hospitalization, or death in the hospital. Conclusion The results of this pilot clinical trial showed no benefit of vitamin A compared with the common treatment on outcome severity in hospitalized patients with COVID-19. Although the results are negative, there is still a great need for future clinical studies to provide a higher level of evidence.

Role of Antioxidant Therapy in the Treatment and Prognosis of COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…Supplemental Table 1 presents the key data extracted from each included study. Studies included were published between 2020 and 2023, with 1 published in 2020 [ 19 ], 12 in 2021 [ [7] , [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [29] , [30] , [31] ], 10 in 2022 [ [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] ], and 2 in 2023 [ 42 , 43 ].…”

“…Geographic setting varied across the studies, with 9 studies from Iran [ [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] ], 3 from the United States [ 24 , 37 , 43 ], 2 from China [ 25 , 39 ], 2 from Tunisia [ 42 , 43 ], 2 from India [ 7 , 41 ] and the remaining 7, with 1 each from Egypt [ 26 ], Saudi Arabia [ 27 ], Israel [ 40 ], Pakistan [ 19 ], Australia [ 29 ], Spain [ 30 ], and Turkey [ 31 ].…”

“…The study populations were primarily in-patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection and moderate disease severity, as seen in 19 studies [ [7] , [19] , [20] , [21] , [22] , [23] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , 35 , 36 , [38] , [39] , [40] ], whereas 6 focused on outpatients exhibiting acute symptoms [ 24 , 28 , 34 , 37 , 41 , 42 ]. Interestingly, 1 study assessed both inpatient and outpatient groups [ 43 ].…”

Relación de la deficiencia de micronutrientes y su suplementación con la gravedad de la COVID-19: una revisión narrativa

“…No hay diferencias en comparación con el placebo en términos de respuesta clínica, admisión a la UCI y necesidad de soporte ventilatorio (21) .…”

“…Al contar con evidencia de efectos positivos de la suplementación de esta vitamina en niños con neumonía en términos de tiempo de recuperación y al no tener un tratamiento específico para el SARS-CoV-2, se planteó la suplementación de vitamina A como un tratamiento adyuvante. Sin embargo, los resultados indican que no hay diferencias en comparación con el placebo en términos de respuesta clínica, admisión a la UCI y necesidad de soporte ventilatorio, por lo que no se justifica su suplementación (21) .…”