Association Between Vitamin D Levels and COVID-19 Infection in Children: A Case-Control Study
Harun Bayrak, Didem Ozturk, Ahmet Bolat, Bulent Unay
Turkish Archives of Pediatrics, doi:10.5152/turkarchpediatr.2023.22217
Objective: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection is seen in all age groups, and its symptoms are very variable. The course of the disease can be asymptomatic or mortal. In pediatric patients, vitamin D is thought to be protective against (COVID-19) with its immunomodulator, antiviral, anti-inflammatory, and epithelial integrity properties. Our aim is to investigate the relationship between (COVID-19) infection and vitamin D level.
Materials and Methods: We included (COVID-19) patients between 1 month and 18 years of age and healthy control groups. We compared epidemiological, clinical, laboratory, and imaging findings in patients. Results: One hundred forty-nine patients were evaluated in our study. Seventy-three (49%) of them were (COVID-19)-positive patients and 76 (51%) of them were healthy control group. The mean 25(OH)-D vitamin level was 15.80 ng/mL (5-41.56) in (COVID-19) patients and 21.51 ng/mL (5-69.80) in the control group. Vitamin D level was shown to be statistically significantly lower in coronavirus disease 2019 patients (P < .001). It was observed that myalgia was more common in patients with low 25(OH)-D levels (P < .048).
Conclusion: Our study is one of the rare studies examining the relationship between (COVID-19) and 25(OH)-D vitamins in the pediatric age group. Children with (COVID-19) have a lower 25(OH)-D vitamin level than the control group.
Ethics Committee Approval: Ethical committee approval was received from the Ethics Committee of University of Health Sciences University (Approval No: 2020-493). Informed Consent: Informed consent was obtained from the patient's family, who agreed to take part in the study. Peer-review: Externally peer-reviewed.
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