Serum vitamin d concentrations in covid19 patients

Background and purpose: Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in Iran. Death toll due to the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is high in this country. The purpose of the present investigation was to provide more information on the relationship between serum levels of vitamin D in confirmed cases of COVID-19 in north of Iran. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was performed in COVID-19 patients (n=80) attending Sari Imam Khomeini Hospital, Iran 2020, who were confirmed for COVID-19 infection with CT-Scan or RT-PCR. Seventy healthy individuals were also examined as the control group. SPSS V19 was applied for data analysis. Results: In this study, 80 patients with COVID-19 (mean age: 57.22 ± 17.44 years old) and 70 healthy individuals (mean age: 48.69 ± 12.99 years) were studied. There were 38 and 35 males in these two groups, respectively. Serum Vitamin D levels were significantly lower in patients with COVID-19 than those in the control group (18.72 ± 12.53 vs. 30.86 ± 15.19 ng/ml, P< 0.001). Conclusion: This study showed that serum levels of Vitamin D were lower in patients with COVID-19 than healthy individuals and frequency of Vitamin D deficiency was higher in these patients. Hence, further studies are needed to clarify the role of serum Vitamin D concentrations in patients with COVID-19 infection.