25-Hydroxyvitamin D Concentrations Are Lower in Patients with Positive PCR for SARS-CoV-2
Antonio D’avolio, Valeria Avataneo, Alessandra Manca, Jessica Cusato, Amedeo De Nicolò, Renzo Lucchini, Franco Keller, Marco Cantù
Nutrients, doi:10.3390/nu12051359
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.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest and no competing financial interests. Disclaimer: PHASE I AIFA, UNI EN ISO 9001 and 13485 Certificate Laboratory; Certificate No. IT-64386 and DM/17/154/S; Certification for: "Design, development and application of determination methods for clinical analytes and drugs, also with reference to in vitro dyagnostics. pharmacogenetic analyses." and "Design and development and application of quantification and detection methods of clinical analytes and drugs, finalized to the production of in vitro diagnostics" www.tdm-torino.org.
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