Hospital and laboratory outcomes of patients with COVID-19 who received vitamin D supplementation: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has a wide-ranging spectrum of clinical symptoms, from asymptomatic/mild to severe. Recent research indicates that, among several factors, a low vitamin D level is a modifiable risk factor for COVID-19 patients. This study aims to evaluate the effect of vitamin D on hospital and laboratory outcomes of patients with COVID-19.Five databases (PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library) and clinicaltrials.gov were searched until July 2022, using relevant keywords/Mesh terms. Only randomized clinical trials (RCTs) that addressed the topic were included. The Cochrane tool was used to assess the studies’ risk of bias, and the data were analyzed using the review manager (RevMan 5.4).We included nine RCTs with 1586 confirmed COVID-19 patients. Vitamin D group showed a significant reduction of intensive care unit (ICU) admission (risk ratio = 0.59, 95% confidence interval (CI) [0.41, 0.84], P = 0.003), and higher change in vitamin D level (standardized mean difference = 2.27, 95% CI [2.08, 2.47], P < 0.00001) compared to the control group. Other studied hospital and laboratory outcomes showed non-significant difference between vitamin D and the control group (P ≥ 0.05).In conclusion, vitamin D reduced the risk of ICU admission and showed superiority in changing vitamin D level compared to the control group. However, other outcomes showed no difference between the two groups. More RCTs are needed to confirm these results.

Correlation between UV Index, Temperature and Humidity with Respect to Incidence and Severity of COVID 19 in Spain

“…Recent meta-analysis has described the direct role of vitamin D in reducing the severity of COVID-19. Zaazouee et al [46] showed that vitamin D supplementation in patients with COVID-19 significantly decreased rates of intensive care admissions compared with controls. Similar results were reported by Feiner-Solis et al [47], and cross-sectional case-control and longitudinal studies have also demonstrated that higher levels of vitamin D were associated with a reduction in COVID-19 risk and severity [48].…”

Covid myths persist despite evidence to refute them

“…One showed that admissions to intensive care were reduced but with no other benefit. 19 The other showed a beneficial trend but no improvement in clinical outcomes. 20 ESCMID looked at several other freely available drugs or treatments that had achieved near-mythical status despite showing no antiviral activity.…”

“…Two major meta‐analyses arrived at different conclusions. One showed that admissions to intensive care were reduced but with no other benefit 19 . The other showed a beneficial trend but no improvement in clinical outcomes 20 …”

The Role of Diet and Specific Nutrients during the COVID-19 Pandemic: What Have We Learned over the Last Three Years?

“…In contrast to preventive lower dose supplementation, clinical intervention trials with higher doses of vitamin D in hospitalized COVID-19 patients revealed some positive meta-analytical evidence especially on the risk for ICU admission [ 83 , 85 , 91 , 92 , 93 ] although not all meta-analyses showed significant beneficial effects [ 87 , 89 ] ( Table 1 ). In addition, it is suggested that COVID-19 patients may rather benefit from receiving a daily or maintained in time vitamin D dose in contrast to a single vitamin D dose, which does not seem to have any effect on the health status of the patients studied [ 121 , 122 ].…”