Impact of vitamin D deficiency on COVID-19

Abstract

Background and aims COVID - 19 has emerged as a global pandemic affecting millions of people. Vitamin D deficiency is one of the risk factors for increased susceptibility to COVID-19. This study aimed to examine the correlation between the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and COVID - 19 infection and mortality rates among the adult population in European and Asian continents. Methods Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in each country was retrieved through literature searching on PubMed® database for the last ten years. As of December, 31 st 2020, COVID - 19 infections and mortalities per million population were extracted from the ‘real time’ statistics of the Worldometer website. The association between both vitamin D deficiency and COVID - 19 infections and mortalities were explored. Results Forty seven countries were included in the analysis. The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency ranged from 6.9-81.8% in European countries and 2.0-87.5% in Asian countries. Significantly positive correlations were observed for both COVID - 19 infection (r=0.76; p<0.001) and mortality rates (r=0.75; p<0.001) in the Asian continent. The correlation values for the infections and mortality rates in the European continent were (r=0.37; p=0.08) and (r=0.43; p=0.04) respectively. When both the continents were combined, the correlation results for both infection (r=0.42; p=0.003) and mortality (r=0.35; p=0.016) rates with vitamin D deficiency values remained significant. Conclusion Prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was significantly associated with the mortality rate of COVID - 19 in Europe and Asia. The association between the infection rate and prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was significant for Asia only. Both the associations were significant when the two continents were combined in the analysis. Therefore we suggest that vitamin D supplementation could play a key role in the prevention and/or treatment of the COVID - 19 patients.

Vitamin D and COVID‐19—Revisited

“…It was noted early in the pandemic that there was some correlation between COVID‐19 mortality by country and historical vitamin D status [19]. A more recent study across 47 European and Asian countries has confirmed this association (r = 0.35; p = 0.016) [20].…”

Usage of nutritional supplements to improve immunity during the COVID-19 pandemic: An online survey

“…and vitamin D by 9% (OR ¼ 0.91; p < 0.001) [37]. As vitamin D deficiency has been associated with COVID-19 mortality rate in the Asian region, vitamin D supplementation could have a vital role in the prevention or treatment of the disease [38,39]. Accordingly, vitamin D supplementation was administered among elderly patients in France with COVID-19 and were less likely to exhibit severity (OR ¼ 0.46; 95% CI, 0.01e0.81; p ¼ 0.033) [40].…”

Relationship between Vitamin D Status and Antibody Response to COVID-19 mRNA Vaccination in Healthy Adults

“…The majority of observational studies indicate that low 25-hydroxy-cholecalciferol (25(OH)D) concentrations are associated with a higher risk of infection and hospitalisation [ 16 , 17 ]. A comparison of European and Asian countries using infection and mortality data from the Worldometer ( , assessed on 31 December 2020) found that vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased infection and mortality rates [ 18 ]. Those at particular risk of COVID-19 infection associated with low 25(OH)D include the elderly [ 19 ], black women in the US [ 20 ], pregnant women [ 21 ] or patients with relevant co-morbidities such as chronic kidney disease [ 22 ].…”