Effect of Vitamin D3 Supplementation on Severe COVID-19: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Clinical Trials
Marharyta Sobczak, Rafał Pawliczak
doi:10.3390/nu16101402
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, vitamin D has attracted interest due to its immunomodulatory properties. Numerous studies show a correlation between vitamin D levels and COVID-19 cases and mortality. Therefore, we conducted a meta-analysis in order to assess the relationship between vitamin D3 supplementation and COVID-19 severity. We included 13 randomized clinical trials that contained the analyzed endpoints: length of COVID-19 hospitalization, number of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions, length of stay in the ICU, number of cases requiring any supplemental oxygenation, duration of any supplemental oxygenation, number of overall mortality and number of deaths associated with COVID-19. The relative risk with 95% confidence interval (CI) and the mean difference with 95% CI were calculated to compare the effect. A random effects model was used to calculate effect sizes. Our meta-analysis showed a positive effect of vitamin D3 supplementation on ICU admission (RR = 0.73; 95% CI [0.57; 0.95], p = 0.02, I 2 = 19.6%) and mortality associated with COVID-19 among patients (RR = 0.56; 95% CI [0.34; 0.91]; p = 0.02; I 2 = 0%). Vitamin D3 supplementation may potentially reduce the risk of ICU admission and death associated with COVID-19.
Supplementary Materials: The following supporting information can be downloaded at: https://www. mdpi.com/article/10.3390/nu16101402/s1, Figure S1 : Risk of bias in included studies, Figure S2 : Funnel plots of the association between vitamin D3 supplementation and COVID-19. Author Contributions: Conceptualization, R.P.; methodology, M.S.; formal analysis, M.S.; investigation, M.S.; writing-original draft preparation, M.S.; writing-review and editing, R.P.; visualization, M.S.; supervision, R.P.; project administration, R.P.; funding acquisition, R.P. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding: This research was funded by the Medical University of Lodz, grant number (503/0-149-03/503-01-001). The APC was funded by the Medical University of Lodz.
Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable. Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable.
Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
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