Vitamin D may be a Covid-19 drug, American study suggests
Two weeks ago, we wrote about a Philippine epidemiological study, which suggested that alleviating vitamin D insufficiency may drastically improve the outlook for Covid-19 patients. A reader sent us an American made study with a similar message.Vitamin D
Covid-19 does not hit everyone equally. People with dark skin, the elderly, people with high blood pressure and obesity and men have less chance of survival after infection with the Covid-19 virus than other groups.
The American doctor Frank Lau, affiliated with Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans, sees these same associations in his own hospital, when he looks at the characteristics of his Covid-19 patients.
According to previously published studies, you often find a too low vitamin D level in these groups. Could this vitamin D insufficiency explain who does and who doesn't get seriously ill after being infected with the Covid-19 virus?
Study
To clarify this, Lau analyzed the medical records of 20 patients with Covid-19 who had been admitted to his hospital. Thirteen of them went to intensive care [ICU], of whom seven were not required [Floor].
In intensive care patients, 85 percent had a vitamin D level below 30 nanograms per milliliter. Scientists say a vitamin D level of 30-100 nanograms per millilter is optimal. So, this 85 percent were vitamin D insufficient. In patients who did not require intensive care, 'only' 57 percent was vitamin D insufficient.
The patient group studied was too small to detect statistically significant relationships. But the associations Lau did find suggest that vitamin D status does indeed play a role in the disease process of Covid-19.
Could a global vitamin D supplementation campaign reduce Covid-19 mortality? Vitamin D costs almost nothing...Conclusion
"Vitamin D insufficiency is highly prevalent in severe Covid-19 patients", Lau concludes.
"Vitamin D insufficiency and severe Covid-19 share numerous associations including hypertension, obesity, male sex, advanced age [...] and immune dysfunction. Thus, we suggest that prospective, randomized controlled studies of vitamin D insufficiency in Covid-19 patients are warranted."
Source:
MedRxiv 2020.04.24.20075838.
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Covid-19 does not hit everyone equally. People with dark skin, the elderly, people with high blood pressure and obesity and men have less chance of survival after infection with the Covid-19 virus than other groups.
The American doctor Frank Lau, affiliated with Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center New Orleans, sees these same associations in his own hospital, when he looks at the characteristics of his Covid-19 patients.
According to previously published studies, you often find a too low vitamin D level in these groups. Could this vitamin D insufficiency explain who does and who doesn't get seriously ill after being infected with the Covid-19 virus?
Study
To clarify this, Lau analyzed the medical records of 20 patients with Covid-19 who had been admitted to his hospital. Thirteen of them went to intensive care [ICU], of whom seven were not required [Floor].
In intensive care patients, 85 percent had a vitamin D level below 30 nanograms per milliliter. Scientists say a vitamin D level of 30-100 nanograms per millilter is optimal. So, this 85 percent were vitamin D insufficient. In patients who did not require intensive care, 'only' 57 percent was vitamin D insufficient.
The patient group studied was too small to detect statistically significant relationships. But the associations Lau did find suggest that vitamin D status does indeed play a role in the disease process of Covid-19.
"Vitamin D insufficiency is highly prevalent in severe Covid-19 patients", Lau concludes.
"Vitamin D insufficiency and severe Covid-19 share numerous associations including hypertension, obesity, male sex, advanced age [...] and immune dysfunction. Thus, we suggest that prospective, randomized controlled studies of vitamin D insufficiency in Covid-19 patients are warranted."
Source:
MedRxiv 2020.04.24.20075838.