COVID-19 Risk Increases with Vit-D Deficiency|Study

Last updated on September 21st, 2020 at 09:47 am

Deficiency of vitamin D in our body increases the risk of getting infected by novel coronavirus finds a recent study. In a recent research published online on an popular journal JAMA Network the researhers have found that the deficiency of vitamin D increases the chances of COVID-19 infection.

Vitamin D is also termed as sunshine vitamin since exposure of sun rays to our body is the only natural source of vit-D. This vitamin is very important for strength of our bone. But, what made scientist to conclude this? Let’s try to find out in this article.

Vitamin-D and COVID-19

Doctors has identified using Vitamin D treatment as a potential strategy to prevent or treat COVID-19. Also, Vitamin D treatment has been found to decrease other viral respiratory infections, especially in persons with vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin-D deficiency is common in population who get less exposure to sunlight.

In US coronavirus is more prevalent among persons with darker skin or reduced sun exposure due to geographical location or their nature of work. These population has low level of vitamin-D level that made researchers curious weather deficiency of this vitamin is linked to increased risk of coronavirus infection.

Participants of the research

Doctors selected 489 patient who was tested positive for COVID-19 at University of Chicago Medicine from March 3 to April 10, 2020. They also collected all health data within 1 year before the date of when they first underwent COVID-19 test. They gathered the information for:

• Demographies
• comorbidity, l
• Laboratory, and medication.

Also Read: COVID affects Heart Cell can have lasting damage|Study

What the result say

A total of 489 patients had participitated with mean age, 49.2 years, out of which 366 were women; and 331 race other than White. Vitamin D status before COVID-19 testing was categorized as

1. Likely deficient for 124 participants (25%),
2. Likely sufficient for 287 (59%), and
3. Uncertain for 78 (16%).

Overall, 71 participants (15%) tested positive for COVID-19. Testing positive for COVID-19 was associated with

1. Increasing age up to age 50 years;
2. Non-White race , and
3. Likely deficient vitamin D status compared with likely sufficient vitamin D status.

This clearly indicates that deficient vitamin D status was associated with increased COVID-19 risk, a finding that suggests that randomized trials may be needed to determine whether vitamin D affects COVID-19 risk.

What can be done

Exposing to sunlight is the only way we can tackle Vit-D deficiency in our body, so, take out time for outdoor activity.

Keep reading: COVID-19 Increases Risk of Brain stroke, Early Signs you must watch for

Journal references:

Meltzer DO, Best TJ, Zhang H, Vokes T, Arora V, Solway J. Association of Vitamin D Status and Other Clinical Characteristics With COVID-19 Test Results. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(9):e2019722. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19722

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Sunit. S. Ekka

Dr Sunit Sanjay Ekka is a physiotherapist in practice for the last 15 years. He has done his BPT from one of the premium Central Government physiotherapy colleges, ie, SVNIRTAR. The patient is his best teacher and whatever he gets to learn he loves to share it on his Youtube channel and blog.

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