Vitamin D deficiency aggravates COVID-19: systematic review and meta-analysis

• Published in: Critical reviews in food science and nutrition Vol. 62; no. 5; pp. 1308 - 1316
• Main Authors: Pereira, Marcos, Dantas Damascena, Alialdo, Galvão Azevedo, Laylla Mirella, de Almeida Oliveira, Tarcio, da Mota Santana, Jerusa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Taylor & Francis 2022; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; blood serum; Calciferol; Coronavirus; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 infection; elderly; food science; Humans; Meta-analysis; mortality; Observational studies; pandemic; people; SARS-CoV-2; Systematic review; Viral diseases; Vitamin D; Vitamin D Deficiency - complications; Vitamin D Deficiency - epidemiology; Vitamin deficiency; Vitamins; COVID-19; meta-analysis; Coronavirus; pandemic; vitamin D
• ISSN: 1040-8398; 1549-7852; 1549-7852
• DOI: 10.1080/10408398.2020.1841090

There is still limited evidence regarding the influence of vitamin D in people with COVID-19. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we analyze the association between vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 severity, via an analysis of the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency in people with the disease. Five online databases-Embase, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ScienceDirect and pre-print Medrevix were searched. The inclusion criteria were observational studies measuring serum vitamin D in adult and elderly subjects with COVID-19. The main outcome was the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in severe cases of COVID-19. We carried out a meta-analysis with random effect measures. We identified 1542 articles and selected 27. Vitamin D deficiency was not associated with a higher chance of infection by COVID-19 (OR = 1.35; 95% CI = 0.80-1.88), but we identified that severe cases of COVID-19 present 64% (OR = 1.64; 95% CI = 1.30-2.09) more vitamin D deficiency compared with mild cases. A vitamin D concentration insufficiency increased hospitalization (OR = 1.81, 95% CI = 1.41-2.21) and mortality from COVID-19 (OR = 1.82, 95% CI = 1.06-2.58). We observed a positive association between vitamin D deficiency and the severity of the disease.