Abstract: Vitamin D levels associate with blood glucose and BMI in COVID-19 patients predicting disease severity MD, Massimo Locatelli2, MD, Patrizia Rovere Querini3, Professor, Stefano Frara1, MD, 1 us cr ip t Andrea Giustina1, Professor Institute of Endocrine and Metabolic Sciences, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, IRCCS an San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy Laboratory Medicine Service, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy 3 Vita-Salute San Raffaele University and Division of Transplantation, Immunology and M 2 pt e d Infectious Diseases, IRCCS San Raffaele Hospital, Milan, Italy Correspondence: Prof. Andrea Giustina, Division of Endocrinology, IRCCS San Raffaele ce Hospital, via Olgettina 60, 20132 Milano, Italy; giustina.andrea@hsr.it Ac Authors’ contributions: All authors contributed equally. Declarations: no funding supports. Disclosure Statement: The authors have nothing to disclose. The Work submitted for publication is original and has not been published in any language or format and has not been submitted elsewhere for print or electronic publication consideration. © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Endocrine Society. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com Luigi di Filippo1, MD, Agnese Allora1, MD, Mauro Doga1, MD, Anna Maria Formenti1, Abstract Context: High prevalence of Vitamin-D (VD) deficiency in COVID-19 patients was reported and inflammatory responses. Furthermore, clear associations between hypovitaminosis-D and us cr ip t fat body-mass excess and diabetes, factors associated with COVID-19 severity, have been widely recognized. Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate in COVID-19 patients the relationship M an between VD levels and inflammatory response, BMI, blood glucose and disease severity. d Design: Patients admitted to San Raffaele-Hospital for COVID-19 were enrolled in this pt e study, excluding those with comorbidities and therapies influencing VD-metabolism. 25(OH)VD levels, plasma glucose levels, BMI and inflammatory parameters were evaluated Ac ce at admission. Results: A total of 88 patients were included. Median VD level was 16.3 ng/mL and VDdeficiency was found in 68.2% of patients. VD-deficiency was found more frequently in male patients and in those affected by severe COVID-19. Regression analyses showed a positive correlation between VD and PaO2/FiO2 ratio, and negative correlations between VD and plasma glucose, BMI, Neutrophil/Lymphocyte ratio, CRP and IL-6. 2 and hypothesized to increase COVID-19 severity likely due to its negative impact on immune Patients with both hypovitaminosis-D and diabetes mellitus, as well those with hypovitaminosis-D and overweight, were more frequently affected by a severe disease with worse inflammatory response and respiratory parameters, compared to those without or just one of these conditions. Conclusions: We showed, for the first-time, a strict association of VD levels with blood t glucose and BMI in COVID-19 patients. VD-deficiency might be a novel..