Having low levels of vitamin D has no impact on Covid outcomes, Delhi hospital study finds

Study by endocrinology department at Max Healthcare, Saket, reveals that vitamin D treatment did not change Covid outcomes such as severity, mortality, oxygen requirement.

A woman undergoes a Covid-19 test | Representational image | Photo: ANI

New Delhi: A study by Delhi-based researchers has found that vitamin D has no impact on clinical outcomes of Covid-19, which includes severe cases, mortality, ICU admission and oxygen requirement.

Published Thursday in Scientific Reports, an online peer-reviewed open access journal, the study was conducted by researchers from the endocrinology (study of hormones) department at Max Healthcare, Saket.

The study included 410 Covid-19 patients and of them, 197 had vitamin D deficiency (VDD). Cholecalciferol, a vitamin D supplement, was administered to 128 of these patients.

“In the VDD group, cholecalciferol treatment did not change clinical outcomes and was not associated with any difference in the inflammatory markers,” the researchers noted.

Several earlier studies have drawn a correlation between low levels of vitamin D and severe Covid-19 cases and as a result, the vitamin has been considered a good preventive for the virus.

However, according to the Max Healthcare researchers, “most studies are limited by a retrospective design and small sample size”.

The study

The study took place in a tertiary care centre designated as a Covid-19 treatment centre in Delhi. The participants had all tested positive for the virus through the RT-PCR test.

Data regarding the patients’ age, sex, presence of comorbidities, presence of symptoms, duration of symptoms, blood pressure etc. was considered for the study and the patients were assigned a “severity score”.

Based on this, the patients were classified as “hospitalized mild disease” and “hospitalized severe disease”.

The patients’ blood was also tested to determine the level of vitamin D (25-hydroxyvitamin-D [25-OHD]) and parathormone (PTH), which regulates a hormone that stimulates the release of calcium.

Cholecalciferol was administered to 128 of the 197 patients with VDD.

Outcomes of study

Apart from studying the groups who were administered the supplement and those who were not, the study also compared severity scores of the group in which levels of vitamin D were sufficient and in the group with inadequate vitamin levels.

“There was no difference between the levels of markers of inflammation (CRP, IL-6, D-dimer, ferritin, and LDH) between the two groups,” the study said.

Severe Covid-19 cases are associated with higher levels of inflammatory markers like C-reactive proteins (CRP), a protein made by the liver, Interleukin-6 (IL-6), a group of naturally occurring proteins, and D-dimer, a protein fragment present in the blood.

Ferritin, a blood protein that contains iron, and Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), an enzyme that is involved in energy production, are other markers.

Additionally, a subgroup analysis of elderly patients with prevalence of comorbidities also did not show a correlation between vitamin D levels and severe Covid outcomes.

The researchers, however, noted, “Our observation needs to be confirmed in adequately powered randomized controlled trials aimed to detect differences in outcomes with vitamin D treatment.”

(Edited by Rachel John)