Vitamin D Levels as a Marker of Severe SARS-CoV-2 Infection

• Published in: Life (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 14; no. 2; p. 210
• Main Authors: Athanassiou, Lambros, Kostoglou-Athanassiou, Ifigenia, Nikolakopoulou, Sofia, Konstantinou, Alexandra, Mascha, Olga, Siarkos, Evangelos, Samaras, Charilaos, Athanassiou, Panagiotis, Shoenfeld, Yehuda
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-01-2024
• Subjects: Alfacalcidol; Anticoagulants; Architects; C-reactive protein; Calcifediol; Calciferol; Chi-square test; Coefficient of variation; COVID-19; Cytokine storm; d-dimers; Ferritin; Fibrinogen; Health aspects; Hospitalization; Immunoassay; Infections; Intubation; Leprosy; Light; Metabolism; Mortality; outcome; Pandemics; Regression analysis; SARS-CoV-2; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Survival; Thromboembolism; Thrombosis; Viral diseases; Viral infections; Viruses; Vitamin D; Vitamin deficiency; Greece; United States > US; SARS-CoV-2; ferritin; d-dimers; fibrinogen; vitamin D; outcome
• ISSN: 2075-1729; 2075-1729
• DOI: 10.3390/life14020210

The SARS-CoV-2 virus may cause severe infection, which is associated with diverse clinical manifestations. Vitamin D has immunomodulating properties and may enhance the body's defense system against invading pathogenic organisms. The aim was to assess 25(OH)D
levels in patients hospitalized for severe infection from the SARS-CoV-2 virus and explore the relationship between 25(OH)D
and outcomes. In a group of 88 patients hospitalized for severe infection from the SARS-CoV-2 virus and a control group matched for age and sex, the levels of 25(OH)D
were analyzed. Levels of 25(OH)D
were 17.36 ± 8.80 ng/mL (mean ± SD) compared with 24.34 ± 10.34 ng/mL in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection and the control group, respectively,
< 0.001 (Student's
-test). 25(OH)D
levels were significantly related to outcomes, i.e., survival as opposed to non-survival, as more patients with 25(OH)D
deficiency (0-10 ng/mL) and insufficiency (10-20 ng/mL) had a fatal outcome as compared with those with vitamin D sufficiency (
< 0.001, chi-square test,
< 0.001, Fisher's exact test). Levels of 25(OH)D3 were inversely related to C-reactive protein (CRP), ferritin, d-dimer, and fibrinogen levels (
< 0.001, linear regression analysis, beta coefficient of variation, -0.176, -0.160, -0.178, and -0.158, respectively). Vitamin D deficiency observed in severe SARS-CoV-2 infection was related to disease outcomes.