Association between vitamin D supplementation and COVID-19 infection and mortality

DOI record: { "DOI": "10.1038/s41598-022-24053-4", "ISSN": [ "2045-2322" ], "URL": "http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-24053-4", "abstract": "<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>Vitamin D deficiency has long been associated with reduced immune function that can lead to viral infection. Several studies have shown that Vitamin D deficiency is associated with increases the risk of infection with COVID-19. However, it is unknown if treatment with Vitamin D can reduce the associated risk of COVID-19 infection, which is the focus of this study. In the population of US veterans, we show that Vitamin D<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> and D<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> fills were associated with reductions in COVID-19 infection of 28% and 20%, respectively [(D<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> Hazard Ratio (HR) = 0.80, [95% CI 0.77, 0.83]), D<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> HR = 0.72, [95% CI 0.65, 0.79]]. Mortality within 30-days of COVID-19 infection was similarly 33% lower with Vitamin D<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> and 25% lower with D<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> (D<jats:sub>3</jats:sub> HR = 0.67, [95% CI 0.59, 0.75]; D<jats:sub>2</jats:sub> HR = 0.75, [95% CI 0.55, 1.04]). We also find that after controlling for vitamin D blood levels, veterans receiving higher dosages of Vitamin D obtained greater benefits from supplementation than veterans receiving lower dosages. Veterans with Vitamin D blood levels between 0 and 19 ng/ml exhibited the largest decrease in COVID-19 infection following supplementation. Black veterans received greater associated COVID-19 risk reductions with supplementation than White veterans. As a safe, widely available, and affordable treatment, Vitamin D may help to reduce the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic.</jats:p>", "alternative-id": [ "24053" ], "article-number": "19397", "assertion": [ { "group": { "label": "Article History", "name": "ArticleHistory" }, "label": "Received", "name": "received", "order": 1, "value": "16 March 2022" }, { "group": { "label": "Article History", "name": "ArticleHistory" }, "label": "Accepted", "name": "accepted", "order": 2, "value": "9 November 2022" }, { "group": { "label": "Article History", "name": "ArticleHistory" }, "label": "First Online", "name": "first_online", "order": 3, "value": "12 November 2022" }, { "group": { "label": "Competing interests", "name": "EthicsHeading" }, "name": "Ethics", "order": 1, "value": "Dr. DO Meltzer reported grants from the National Institutes of Health during the conduct of the study. Dr. JB Gibbons, Dr. J Lavigne, Dr. VC Fiedler, Dr. EC Norton, Dr. J McCullough, Dr. RD Gibbons have no conflicts to report." } ], "author": [ { "affiliation": [], "family": "Gibbons", "given": "Jason B.", "sequence": "first" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Norton", "given": "Edward C.", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "McCullough", "given": "Jeffrey S.", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Meltzer", "given": "David O.", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Lavigne", "given": "Jill", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Fiedler", "given": "Virginia C.", "sequence": "additional" }, { "affiliation": [], "family": "Gibbons", "given": "Robert D.", "sequence": "additional" } ], "container-title": "Scientific Reports", "container-title-short": "Sci Rep", "content-domain": { "crossmark-restriction": false, "domain": [ "link.springer.com" ] }, "created": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 11, 12 ] ], "date-time": "2022-11-12T13:29:40Z", "timestamp": 1668259780000 }, "deposited": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 11, 12 ] ], "date-time": "2022-11-12T13:33:35Z", "timestamp": 1668260015000 }, "indexed": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 11, 13 ] ], "date-time": "2022-11-13T05:48:59Z", "timestamp": 1668318539351 }, "is-referenced-by-count": 0, "issue": "1", "issued": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 11, 12 ] ] }, "journal-issue": { "issue": "1", "published-online": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 12 ] ] } }, "language": "en", "license": [ { "URL": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0", "content-version": "tdm", "delay-in-days": 0, "start": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 11, 12 ] ], "date-time": "2022-11-12T00:00:00Z", "timestamp": 1668211200000 } }, { "URL": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0", "content-version": "vor", "delay-in-days": 0, "start": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 11, 12 ] ], "date-time": "2022-11-12T00:00:00Z", "timestamp": 1668211200000 } } ], "link": [ { "URL": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-24053-4.pdf", "content-type": "application/pdf", "content-version": "vor", "intended-application": "text-mining" }, { "URL": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-24053-4", "content-type": "text/html", "content-version": "vor", "intended-application": "text-mining" }, { "URL": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-24053-4.pdf", "content-type": "application/pdf", "content-version": "vor", "intended-application": "similarity-checking" } ], "member": "297", "original-title": [], "prefix": "10.1038", "published": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 11, 12 ] ] }, "published-online": { "date-parts": [ [ 2022, 11, 12 ] ] }, "publisher": "Springer Science and Business Media LLC", "reference": [ { "DOI": "10.1016/j.nutres.2010.12.001", "author": "KY Forrest", "doi-asserted-by": "publisher", "first-page": "48", "issue": "1", "journal-title": "Nutr. 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