Severe COVID-19 5X more likely if low vitamin D (23 studies) – 16th meta-analysis July 2021

The Role of Vitamin D in the Age of COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Int J Clin Pract. 2021 Jul 29;e14675. doi: 10.1111/ijcp.14675
Roya Ghasemian 1, Amir Shamshirian 2 3, Keyvan Heydari 3 4, Mohammad Malekan 4, Reza Alizadeh-Navaei 3, Mohammad Ali Ebrahimzadeh 5, Majid Ebrahimi Warkiani 6 7, Hamed Jafarpour 4, Sajad Razavi Bazaz 6, Arash Rezaei Shahmirzadi 8, Mehrdad Khodabandeh 9, Benyamin Seyfari 10, Alireza Motamedzadeh 11, Ehsan Dadgostar 12, Marzieh Aalinezhad 13, Meghdad Sedaghat 14, Nazanin Razzaghi 8, Bahman Zarandi 15, Anahita Asadi 5, Vahid Yaghoubi Naei 16, Reza Beheshti 5, Amirhossein Hessami 2, Soheil Azizi 17, Ali Reza Mohseni 17 18, Danial Shamshirian 19

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Background: Evidence recommends that vitamin D might be a crucial supportive agent for the immune system, mainly in cytokine response regulation against COVID-19. Hence, we carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis in order to maximize the use of everything that exists about the role of vitamin D in the COVID-19.

Methods: A systematic search was performed in PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science up to December 18, 2020. Studies focused on the role of vitamin D in confirmed COVID-19 patients were entered into the systematic review.

Results: Twenty-three studies containing 11901participants entered into the meta-analysis. The meta-analysis indicated that 41% of COVID-19 patients were suffering from vitamin D deficiency (95% CI, 29%-55%), and in 42% of patients, levels of vitamin D were insufficient (95% CI, 24%-63%). The serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration was 20.3 ng/mL among all COVID-19 patients (95% CI, 12.1-19.8). The odds of getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 is 3.3 times higher among individuals with vitamin D deficiency (95% CI, 2.5-4.3). The chance of developing severe COVID-19 is about five times higher in patients with vitamin D deficiency (OR: 5.1, 95% CI, 2.6-10.3). There is no significant association between vitamin D status and higher mortality rates (OR: 1.6, 95% CI, 0.5-4.4).

Conclusion: This study found that most of the COVID-19 patients were suffering from vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency. Also, there is about three times higher chance of getting infected with SARS-CoV-2 among vitamin D deficient individuals and about 5 times higher probability of developing the severe disease in vitamin D deficient patients. Vitamin D deficiency showed no significant association with mortality rates in this population.