Vitamin D Deficiency May Cause COVID-19 Complications And Death, Claims New Study

Scientists are still trying to find all the aspects in which the Wuhan Coronavirus affects a human body.

Shedding more light on this, a team of researchers now claims to have found out a strong correlation between the presence of vitamin D in a body and mortality rates resulting from the COVID-19.

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As per the research, patients from countries with high mortality rates due to COVID-19 had lower levels of vitamin D as compared to patients in countries that had a low mortality rate. Examples of the former include countries like Italy, Spain, the UK and the US.

The research was conducted by Northwestern University. For the study, the research team carried out a statistical analysis of data from hospitals and clinics across China, South Korea, Iran, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States.

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Now available on medRxiv, the research warns that it does not necessarily mean that Vitamin D is a sure shot cure against COVID-19. Northwestern¡¯s Vadim Backman, who led the research, clarifies this, ¡°While I think it is important for people to know that vitamin D deficiency might play a role in mortality, we don¡¯t need to push vitamin D on everybody.¡± He points out that the research still ¡°needs further study.¡±

What inspired the research?

Backman and his team were puzzled by the unexplained variations in COVID-19 mortality rates across countries. While some suggested healthcare quality, age distributions, testing rates or different strains of the coronavirus to be responsible, Backman and his team instead decided to examine vitamin D levels in patients as a possible cause.

¡°None of these factors appears to play a significant role,¡± said Backman. He elaborated that, ¡°The healthcare system in northern Italy is one of the best in the world.

Differences in mortality exist even if one looks across the same age group. And, while the restrictions on testing do indeed vary, the disparities in mortality still exist even when we looked at countries or populations for which similar testing rates apply.¡±

(Representative Image: Reuters)

Instead, the team found out a ¡°significant correlation with vitamin D deficiency.¡±

Two new learnings came to light with the research based on analyzing publicly available patient data from around the globe. Backman and his team found out a strong correlation between vitamin D levels and cytokine storm ¡ª a hyperinflammatory condition caused by an overactive immune system.

In addition, a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and mortality was also discovered.

Backman¡¯s findings can open doors to possible future medications against the COVID-19. Though still in research, if such a correlation turns out to be true for all the COVID-19 cases, the mechanism of mortality can be targeted with corresponding medical treatments. ¡°I hope our work will stimulate interest in this area,¡± Backman says.