{"id":329193,"date":"2021-04-30T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/covid-19-and-vitamin-d-sticking-to-the-facts\/"},"modified":"2021-04-30T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T12:00:00","slug":"covid-19-and-vitamin-d-sticking-to-the-facts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/covid-19-and-vitamin-d-sticking-to-the-facts\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19 and vitamin D: sticking to the facts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recent scientific publications have brought back into focus the debate on a possible protective role of vitamin D supplementation for severe COVID-19 progression. When interpreting the study findings, however, it is important to bear in mind that these are associations and no causal relationship can be derived from them. The benefit of vitamin D supplementation in certain risk groups with osteological or musculoskeletal complaints is undisputed. Benefit is also expected in certain other indications.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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A recent meta-analysis concluded that severe COVID-19 courses are 64% more likely to be vitamin D deficient than mild courses [1,2]. Inadequate vitamin D levels were inversely associated with an increased risk of hospitalizations (OR 1.81, CI 1.41-2.21) and excess mortality (OR 1.82, CI 1.06-2.58) [2]. In this context, the question arises whether vitamin D administration might be useful for COVID-19 infection prophylaxis or therapy. International professional societies have issued current statements on this subject.<\/p>\n

In a recently published expert statement, the German Society of Endocrinology assessed the current evidence as insufficient for a preventive effect of vitamin D in the context of COVID-19 [3]. The National Institute for Health (NICE) of the United Kingdom also came to this conclusion based on a comprehensive secondary analysis of study findings [4]. That an association exists between vitamin D status and a worse clinical COVID-19 course was confirmed, but no causal relationship could be inferred from this. According to the German Society of Endocrinology [3], it remains an individual decision of the physician and patient whether the measurement of vitamin D levels and any vitamin supplementation is useful or not. There are also recent publications on the fact that an overdose of vitamin D can have harmful effects [6,7]. As a pragmatic solution, the professional society therefore suggests 400-1000 IU vitamin supplementation per day  to ensure adequate vitamin D supply in risk groups [1].<\/p>\n

The patients considered at risk according to the Swiss guidelines are shown in overview 1<\/span>.<\/p>\n

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Assess the question of supplementation individually<\/h2>\n

The effects of vitamin D on bone health are well established empirically [1] and in all the discussions on possible effects on COVID-19 infection, it should not be forgotten that for certain osteological or musculoskeletal risk groups there is an established need for vitamin D supplementation, which also applies in the context of COVID-19 [1,3]. Outside the indication of bone health, however, the data situation so far remains “without clear evidence of a benefit of vitamin D,” concluded the German Society for Endocrinology in a statement published in February of this year [3]. On the one hand, there are numerous empirical findings on associations of the vitamin D signaling pathway with immune system function and tumorigenesis [3]. On the other hand, vitamin D is downregulated in the context of inflammatory processes, and there are numerous pathophysiological explanations for reverse causality pointing to low vitamin D levels as a consequence rather than a cause of adverse health events. The vitamin D standard values applicable in Switzerland are shown in overview 2 <\/span>.<\/p>\n

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Literature:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. DGE: Vitamin D in COVID-19? Professional society recommends compromise for high-risk patients, Feb. 12, 2021, www.endokrinologie.net\/pressemitteilung\/vitamin-d-bei-covid-19.php, (last accessed Mar. 12, 2021).<\/li>\n
  2. Pereira M, et al: Vitamin D deficiency aggravates COVID-19: Systematic review and meta-analysis. Crit Rev Food Sci Nutr 2020: 1-9. doi: 10.1080\/10408398.2020.1841090.<\/li>\n
  3. DGE: Statement, Feb. 11, 2021, www.endokrinologie.net\/aktuelles-details\/stellungnahme-vitamin-d-corona-pandemie.php (last accessed Mar. 12, 2021).<\/li>\n
  4. NICE guideline NG187 Evidence reviews for the use of vitamin D supplementation as prevention and treatment of COVID-19. December 2020, www.nice.org.uk (last accessed 12\/03\/2021).<\/li>\n
  5. National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. COVID-19 rapid guideline: vitamin D. NICE guideline NG187 Published: 17 December 2020. www.nice.org.uk\/guidance\/ng187 (last call 12.03.2021)<\/li>\n
  6. Appel L, et al: The Effects of Four Doses of Vitamin D Supplements on Falls in Older Adults. A Response-Adaptive, Randomized Clinical Trial Ann Intern Med 2021 doi:10.7326\/M20-3812.<\/li>\n
  7. Pham H, et al: The effect of vitamin D supplementation on acute respiratory tract infection in older Australian adults: an analysis of data from the D-Health Trial. Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol 2021; published online Jan 11. doi.org\/10.1016\/S2213-8587(20)30380-6.<\/li>\n
  8. Medix: Guidelines 2020, www.medix.ch\/wissen\/guidelines\/stoffwechselkrankheiten\/vitamin-d-mangel, (last accessed Mar. 12, 2021).<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

     <\/p>\n

    HAUSARZT PRAXIS 2021; 16(4): 20<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Recent scientific publications have brought back into focus the debate on a possible protective role of vitamin D supplementation for severe COVID-19 progression. When interpreting the study findings, however, it…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":106035,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","cat_1_feature_home_top":false,"cat_2_editor_pick":false,"csco_eyebrow_text":"Vitamin supplementation ","footnotes":""},"category":[11508,11297,11406,11500,11460,11548,11503],"tags":[13113,20667],"powerkit_post_featured":[],"class_list":["post-329193","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-education","category-general-internal-medicine","category-infectiology","category-news-en","category-prevention-and-health-care","category-rx-en","category-studies","tag-vitamin-d-en","tag-vitamin-d-deficiency","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-30 22:53:16","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"wpml_current_locale":"en_US","wpml_translations":{"fr_FR":{"locale":"fr_FR","id":329200,"slug":"covid-19-et-vitamine-d-sen-tenir-aux-faits","post_title":"COVID-19 et vitamine D : s'en tenir aux faits","href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/fr\/covid-19-et-vitamine-d-sen-tenir-aux-faits\/"},"it_IT":{"locale":"it_IT","id":329208,"slug":"covid-19-e-vitamina-d-attenersi-ai-fatti","post_title":"COVID-19 e vitamina D: attenersi ai fatti","href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/it\/covid-19-e-vitamina-d-attenersi-ai-fatti\/"},"pt_PT":{"locale":"pt_PT","id":329184,"slug":"covid-19-e-vitamina-d-cingir-se-aos-factos","post_title":"COVID-19 e vitamina D: Cingir-se aos factos","href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/pt-pt\/covid-19-e-vitamina-d-cingir-se-aos-factos\/"},"es_ES":{"locale":"es_ES","id":329199,"slug":"covid-19-y-vitamina-d-atenerse-a-los-hechos","post_title":"COVID-19 y vitamina D: atenerse a los hechos","href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/es\/covid-19-y-vitamina-d-atenerse-a-los-hechos\/"}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329193","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=329193"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/329193\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/106035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=329193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/category?post=329193"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=329193"},{"taxonomy":"powerkit_post_featured","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medizinonline.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/powerkit_post_featured?post=329193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}