Vitamin D Insufficiency

Vitamin D Insufficiency May Account for Almost Nine of Ten COVID-19 Deaths:
Time to Act

Nutrients

November 27, 2020; Vol. 12; No. 12; Article 3642

Hermann Brenner and Ben Schöttker: from the Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany; and the University of Heidelberg, Germany

In this cohort of 118 patients, 64% had vitamin D insufficiency including 41 patients with vitamin D deficiency. Mortality was much higher among vitamin D insufficient patients than among other patients.

The authors had adjusted for age, sex, and comorbidity as potential confounders in their multivariate analysis.

KEY POINTS FROM THIS ARTICLE:

1) “Evidence from observational studies is accumulating, suggesting that the majority of deaths due to SARS-CoV-2 infections are statistically attributable to vitamin D insufficiency and could potentially be prevented by vitamin D supplementation.” [Important]

2) “Given the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic, rational vitamin D supplementation whose safety has been proven in an extensive body of research should be promoted and initiated to limit the toll of the pandemic even before the final proof of efficacy in preventing COVID-19 deaths by randomized trials.”

3) “[In the cohort cited], 87% of COVID-19 deaths may be statistically attributed to vitamin D insufficiency and could potentially be avoided by eliminating vitamin D insufficiency.”

• “There are multiple plausible mechanisms that may well explain the observed associations.”
• “Final proof of causality and prevention of deaths by vitamin D supplementation would have to come from randomized trials.”
• “Given the dynamics of the COVID-19 pandemic and the proven safety of vitamin D supplementation, it therefore appears highly debatable and potentially even unethical to await results of such trials before public health action is taken.”

4) “Other population-wide measures of prevention, widespread vitamin D3 supplementation at least for high-risk groups, such as older adults or people with relevant comorbidity, which has been proven by randomized controlled trials to be beneficial with respect to prevention of other acute respiratory infections and acute exacerbation of asthma and chronic pulmonary disease, should be promoted.”

We have reviewed these studies pertaining to vitamin D and COVID-19:

Article Review 27-20:
Vitamin D and Inflammation: Implications for Severity of Covid-19

Article Review 29-20:
Evidence that Vitamin D Supplementation Could Reduce Risk of Influenza and COVID-19 Infections and Deaths

Article Review 9-21:
Zinc, Vitamin D and Vitamin C: Perspectives for COVID-19

Article Review 36-21:
Impact of Daily High Dose Oral Vitamin D Therapy on the Inflammatory Markers in Patients with COVID-19 Disease

Article Review 5-22:
Vitamin D and Its Potential Benefit for the COVID-19 Pandemic

It is important to remember that vitamin D requires magnesium (Mg++) for activation/function; see these reviews:

Article Review 51-22:
The Relevance of Magnesium Homeostasis in COVID-19

Article Review 1-23:
Magnesium-to-Calcium Ratio and Mortality from COVID-19