Vitamin D Serum Status in a Cohort of COVID-19 Patients

Background/Purpose: Vitamin D serum levels have been inversely associated with risk of pulmonary infections and autoimmune inflammatory disease activity and severity [1,2] A possible role of vitamin D in patients with SARS-Cov-2 infection was also recently reported [3] The aim of the study was to evaluate 25OH-vitamin D serum levels in a cohort of patients hospitalized for SARSCov-2 infection, looking in particular for correlations with parameters of lung involvement Methods: Sixty consecutive COVID-19 patients (mean age 76±8 years, mean disease duration 13±13 days, 26 males and 34 females) and sixty sex- and age-matched healthy subjects (CNT) were evaluated Pulmonary involvement (radiological fi ndings), respiratory parameters (PaO 2/F I O 2, pO 2, sO 2), clinical parameters, duration of hospitalization and global disease duration were recorded Results: Vitamin D serum levels were found significantly lower in COVID-19 patients than in CNT (median 7 8 vs 16 0 ng/ml, p=0 0003) Among COVID-19, vitamin D sufficiency (>30 ng/ml), insufficiency (between 20 and 30 ng/ml) defi ciency (between 10 and 20 ng/ml) and severe deficiency (< 10 ng/ml) were observed respectively in 11, 12, 20 and 57 % of patients In CNT, the same vitamin D distribution occurred in 21, 22, 34 and 23 % of subjects respectively A statistically significant positive correlation was observed between vitamin D serum levels and PaO 2/F I O 2 (p=0 02), pO 2 (p=0 04), sO 2 (p=0 05), while a statistically significant negative correlation was found between vitamin D serum levels and percentage of O 2 in Venturi Mask (p=0 04) Vitamin D serum levels negatively correlated also with C-reactive protein (p=0 04), D-dimer (p=0 04), and parathyroid hormone (p=0 05) A negative correlation was also found between vitamin D levels and severity of radiographic pulmonary involvement, but this did not reach the statistical significance (median vitamin D levels in patients with Mild, Moderate and Severe lung involvement were respectively 10 9, 7 7 and 5 5 ng/dl;p=0 11) However, vitamin D serum levels were found significantly lower in COVID-19 patients with either multiple lung consolidations or severe interstitial lung involvement than in those with either normal or mild interstitial lung involvement (p=0 02) Finally, lower vitamin D serum levels were found associated with longer global disease duration (p=0 05) Conclusion: Deficiency of 25OH-vitamin D serum levels seem associated with more severe lung involvement and longer disease duration in COVID-19 patients