The Association Between Vitamin D Serum Level and Severity of COVID-19: A Cross-sectional Study
Shahrzad Izadi, Masoume Bitaraf, Fatemeh Rahaei, Seyedeh Pardis Naghibi Rokni, Kamyar Mansori, Assistant Professor. Mohammad Memarian
Iranian Journal Of Health Sciences, doi:10.32598/ijhs.13.1.1070.1
Background and Purpose: This study aimed to determine the association between vitamin D serum levels and the severity of COVID-19 in Iran.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was done on 121 COVID-19 patients referred to Kowsar Hospital of Semnan City, Iran, in 2022. The patients were assigned to the mild/moderate (n=80) and severe (n=41) COVID-19 groups. The data collection tool was a checklist that included demographics, clinical variables, and laboratory parameters extracted from the medical file and interviews with the patient. Also, patients' serum vitamin D level was measured using the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry method. Data were entered in Stata software, version 14 and analyzed by multivariate logistic regression. P<0.05 were considered significant.
Results: The mean age of severe and mild/moderate groups were 67.66±16.15 and 48.5±18.7 years, respectively. About 61% and 55% of mild/moderate and severe groups were male. The multivariate logistic regression model showed vitamin D (odds ratio [OR]=0.55; 95% CI, 0.42%, 0.83%) is the most important factor predicting the severity of COVID-19 so that, for one ng/mL increase in vitamin D level, the odds of contracting the severe form of COVID-19 decreases by about 45%.
Conclusion: The present study shows that low vitamin D levels may increase the risk of severe COVID-19. However, further studies with larger sample sizes are recommended.
Authors contributions Data collection, statistical analysis: Shahrzad Izadi and Mohammad Memarian; Study design, and data analysis: Masoume Bitaraf, Fatemeh Rahaei, and Seyedeh Pardis Naghibi Rokni; Conceptualization, review and editing: Kamyar Mansori, Shahrzad Izadi and Mohammad Memarian; Writing the original draft and final approval: All authors.
Conflict of interest The authors declared no conflict of interest.
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doi:10.1097/MD.0000000000017252DOI record:
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