Healthy Vitamin D Levels Can Reduce COVID-19 Complications

Previous studies have also shown that certain compounds may provide a protective effect against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The coronavirus currently infects more than 33.27 million people worldwide and kills more than 1 million people.

Vitamin D is thought to provide a protective effect against SARS-CoV-2. Vitamin D, which interacts with receptors in immune cells (VDRs), regulates the natural and acquired immune system in response to the invasion of bacterial and viral pathogens. It also down-regulates angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), which acts as a modulator of the renin-angiotensin pathway and acts as a receptor for the SARS-CoV-2 virus to infect cells. Therefore, Vitamin D may help in the treatment of COVID-19. Cytokine storm Subsequent acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a common cause of death for the disease.

Currently, new studies add a set of evidence of the promising effects of vitamin D in the fight against COVID-19.

Researcher team Boston University School of Medicine Patients admitted for COVID-19 were found to have a lower risk of adversely affecting clinical outcomes if they had adequate vitamin D levels. This study provides direct evidence that vitamin D sufficiency reduces complications such as cytokine storms and death from COVID-19.

Published in the journal PLOS ONEThis study investigates the association of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels with the adverse clinical outcomes and parameters of COVID-19’s immune function and mortality.

Measurement of vitamin D levels

To reach the study results, the team collected hospital data for 235 patients with COVID-19. The team collected blood samples to measure vitamin D status from patients admitted to the hospital. From there, researchers tracked these patients and determined clinical outcomes, including unconsciousness, clinical severity of infection, dyspnea and hypoxia, or lack of oxygen levels in the body, and death. ..

In addition, the team measured blood samples for inflammatory markers called C-reactive protein and lymphocyte levels. All of these parameters were collected, compared and analyzed in both patients with and without adequate vitamin D levels.

What the team found

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) standards, 74% of study participants had a severe COVID-19 infection and about 32.98% had sufficient vitamin D. The team regulates confounding factors directly between vitamin D sufficiency and reduced clinical severity and mortality, increased serum levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), inflammatory markers, and a proportion of lymphocytes. I found that there is a confounding relationship. ..

Research results show that only 9.7 percent of patients over the age of 40 who were adequate for vitamin D died of COVID-19. By comparison, 20% of patients with 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels <30 ng / ml.

“A significant decrease in serum CRP, an inflammatory marker, and an increase in the proportion of lymphocytes also regulate the immune response, as vitamin D sufficiency also reduces the risk of cytokine storms in response to this viral infection. It suggests that it could be useful, “the team wrote in a paper. ..

Therefore, the team recommended that improving the vitamin D status of the general public, especially in inpatients with coronavirus, could reduce the severity and even death associated with the devastating global health crisis.

The team also believes that having enough vitamin D will help fight the consequences of getting sick not only from the coronavirus, but also from other viruses that cause upper respiratory tract diseases such as the flu.

Separately, the team said the study provides a cost-effective and easy way to improve a person’s ability to prevent infection from SARS-CoV-2 and reduce adverse clinical outcomes.

“Vitamin D deficiency and deficiency is so widespread in children and adults in the United States and around the world, especially in winter, that everyone takes vitamin D supplements to reduce the risk of infection and complications from COVID. It is wise to do this, 19 said Dr. Michael F. Holic, a professor of medicine, physiology, biophysics and molecular medicine at the University of Boston School of Medicine.

Although the results are promising, the team said further research is needed to find out the optimal levels of vitamin D, which can help reduce the risk of particularly severe COVID-19.