25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations Are Lower in Patients with Positive PCR for SARS-CoV-2

25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations Are Lower in Patients with Positive PCR for SARS-CoV-2

Alessandra Manca, Renzo Lucchini, Jessica Cusato, Antonio D’Avolio, Amedeo De Nicolò, Marco Cantù, Valeria Avataneo, Franco Keller

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), with a clinical outcome ranging from mild to severe, including death. To date, it is unclear why some patients develop severe symptoms. Many authors have suggested the involvement of vitamin D in reducing the risk of infections; thus, we retrospectively investigated the 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations in plasma obtained from a cohort of patients from Switzerland. In this cohort, significantly lower 25(OH)D levels (p = 0.004) were found in PCR-positive for SARS-CoV-2 (median value 11.1 ng/mL) patients compared with negative patients (24.6 ng/mL); this was also confirmed by stratifying patients according to age >70 years. On the basis of this preliminary observation, vitamin D supplementation might be a useful measure to reduce the risk of infection. Randomized controlled trials and large population studies should be conducted to evaluate these recommendations and to confirm our preliminary observation.

2020

vitamin D, coronavirus, Deficiency, concentrations, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19

DOI: 10.3390/nu12051359

Nutrients

MDPI AG

Nutrition. Foods and food supply