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Abstract: Epidemiology and Infection
cambridge.org/hyg
Vitamin D levels in children with COVID-19: a
report from Turkey
Aysegul Alpcan, Serkan Tursun and Yaşar Kandur
Original Paper
Cite this article: Alpcan A, Tursun S, Kandur Y
(2021). Vitamin D levels in children with COVID19: a report from Turkey. Epidemiology and
Infection 149, e180, 1–4. https://doi.org/
10.1017/S0950268821001825
Received: 12 May 2021
Revised: 1 July 2021
Accepted: 22 July 2021
Key words:
Children; COVID-19; vitamin D
Author for correspondence:
Aysegul Alpcan,
E-mail: aysegulozcalik@gmail.com
Department of Pediatrics, School of Medicine, Kirikkale University, Kirikkale, Turkey
Abstract
Several studies have demonstrated that higher levels of vitamin D are associated with better
prognosis and outcomes in infectious diseases. We aimed to compare the vitamin D levels
of paediatric patients with mild/moderate coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease
and a healthy control group. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of patients
who were hospitalised at our university hospital with the diagnosis of COVID-19 during
the period between 25 May 2020 and 24 December 2020. The mean age of the COVID-19
patients was 10.7 ± 5.5 years (range 1–18 years); 43 (57.3%) COVID-19 patients were male.
The mean serum vitamin D level was significantly lower in the COVID-19 group than the
control group (21.5 ± 10.0 vs. 28.0 ± 11.0 IU, P < 0.001). The proportion of patients with vitamin D deficiency was significantly higher in the COVID-19 group than the control group
(44% vs. 17.5%, P < 0.001). Patients with low vitamin D levels were older than the patients
with normal vitamin D levels (11.6 ± 4.9 vs. 6.2 ± 1.8 years, P = 0.016). There was a significant
male preponderance in the normal vitamin D group compared with the low vitamin D group
(91.7% vs. 50.8%, P = 0.03). C-reactive protein level was higher in the low vitamin D group,
although the difference did not reach statistical significance (9.6 ± 2.2 vs. 4.5 ± 1.6 mg/l, P =
0.074). Our study provides an insight into the relationship between vitamin D deficiency
and COVID-19 for future studies. Empiric intervention with vitamin D can be justified by
low serum vitamin D levels.
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