Review the Research
Get summaries of key research on vitamin D and COVID-19
Effects of Vitamin D Serum Level on Morbidity and Mortality in Patients with COVID-19: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Take Home Message
his analysis reported no statistical difference in mortality, ICU admission rate, ventilator support, or length of hospital stay in COVID-19 patients with low and high vitamin D serum concentration.
Results
- Vitamin D serum concentration was not statistically associated with mortality and ICU admission, ventilator support requirement, and length of hospital stay.

Who
20 studies including 12,806 patients aged between 42 to 81 years old were analyzed.
Things to Keep in Mind
- This analysis included just 20 observational studies which were retrospective, no intervention was performed.
- Many studies did not report or control for confounding and comorbidities.
- Studies varied in timing serum vitamin D measurement relative to disease onset.
Author’s Conclusions
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There is no statistical difference in mortality {RR 1.02 (95% CI: 0.74, 1.42)}, ICU admission rate {RR 0.87 (95% CI: 0.67, 1.14)}, ventilator support requirement {RR was 1.29 (95% CI: 0.79, 1.84)}, and length of hospital stay {0.84 (95% CI -0.45, 2.13)} in COVID-19 patients with low and high Vitamin D serum concentration. Additional randomized controlled trials are needed to provide a specific supplemental vitamin dose and Vitamin D serum concentration to target.
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Study Design
- This systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to determine the effects of Vitamin D serum concentration on mortality and morbidity in COVID-19 patients.
- The primary objectives were to determine if Vitamin D serum concentration decrease mortality, ICU admissions, ventilator support, and length of hospital stay in COVID-19 patients.
- Ovid MEDLINE, Ovid Embase, CINAHL, Scopus, Web of Science Core Collection, and Cochrane Library (via Wiley), clinicaltrials.gov, google scholar first 200 and study bibliographies were searched on May 1, 2021.
- The meta-analysis consisted of randomized controlled, and observational studies with the following inclusion criteria: 1) COVID-19 positive patients, 2) low Vitamin D serum concentration group, 3) normal Vitamin D serum concentration group, 4) mortality, 5) intensive care unit (ICU) admission, 6) ventilator support, and 7) length of hospital stay.