Back to Search Results

Association Between Vitamin D Deficiency and COVID-19 Incidence, Complications, and Mortality in 46 Countries: An Ecological Study.

Javier Mariani, MD; Carlos D. Tajer, MD; and Laura Antonietti, MD; are Clinical Investigators; Hospital El Cruce, Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Virna Margarita Marín Giménez, PhD, is an Assistant Professor; Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencias Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas y Tecnológicas, Universidad Católica de Cuyo, San Juan, Argentina. Ivana Bergam, PhD, is an Assistant Professor; CROATIA Osiguranje Pension Company for Voluntary Pension Fund Management D.O.O., Zagreb, Croatia. Filipe Inserra, MD, and León Ferder, MD, are Clinical Investigators; Universidad Maimónides, Buenos Aires, Argentina. Walter Manucha, PhD, is a Professor Área de Farmacología, Departamento de Patología, Facultad de Ciencias Médicas, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, and Director Laboratorio de Farmacología Experimental Básica y Traslacional, Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo, Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas; both in Mendoza, Argentina.

Health security. 2021;(3):302-308
Full text from:

Other resources

Abstract

Each patient's immune defenses play a major role in mitigating the impact (ie, morbidity and mortality) of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the virus responsible for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Vitamin D is an important modulator of the immune system. Although serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels can be raised through diet or supplements, most vitamin D in the body is the result of dermal synthesis from ultraviolet radiation. The production of vitamin D in the skin, however, can be limited by latitude, skin-covering clothes, the use of sunblock, and skin pigmentation. Vitamin D deficiency affects a high percentage of the world population. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels are suboptimal, not only in specific risk groups but also in adults from many countries. Low vitamin D levels, therefore, represent a risk factor for several different pathologies, including SAR-CoV-2. This study used an ecological design to assess the association between vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 incidence, complications, and mortality across 46 countries. All data were obtained from published sources. The results of the study suggest an association at the population level between the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and the risk of being infected with COVID-19, severity of the disease, and risk of dying from it.