Serum Calcium and Vitamin D levels: Correlation with severity of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients in Royal Hospital, Oman

In this group of 445 hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Oman conducted between March and September 2020, serum vitamin D was deficient in only 5% of the population, with a mean value of 66.6 nmol/l (26.6 ng/ml). Analysis of serum vitamin D values did not produce significant correlations with patient characteristics, clinical symptoms or laboratory parameters associated with COVID-19 disease.

• Serum vitamin D was deficient in only 5% of the population, with a mean of 66.6 nmol/l (26.6 ng/ml) and range of 17–128 nmol/L (6.8-51.2 ng/ml).
• Diabetes and hypertension were the most frequent comorbidities, in 46.1% and 46.7% of the patients, respectively.
• Upon admission, 35.9% of patients required 1–14 L/min oxygen, and 30.3% required >15 L/min; 36.6% required intubation, and 18.7% required non-Invasive ventilation. The number of patients requiring ICU/HID admissions was 186 out of the 445 (41.8%). The overall mortality rate was 17.7%.
• There were non-significant correlations between Vitamin D and almost all the parameters except for chronic respiratory diseases.

Included in this study were 445 COVID-19 patients (276 males, 62%; 169 females, 38%) >15 years of age who required hospitalization in Oman. The mean age was 50.8 years, ranging from 15-94 years.

• The observational design of the study cannot substantiate causality between serum vitamin D levels and severity of COVID-19 disease.
• No control group has been included in the study.
• This study had a small sample size. A larger sample size would increase the power and robustness of the study.

Vitamin D levels were not significantly deficient in the Omani population and did not produce significant correlations with patient characteristics, clinical symptoms or laboratory parameters associated with COVID-19 disease.

• This is an observational cohort study of patients admitted with COVID-19 to the Royal Hospital in Muscat, Oman between March and September 2020.
• The data was extracted from the hospital’s COVID database that includes parameters such as epidemiological characteristics, clinical symptoms, comorbid diseases and laboratory parameters.
• The laboratory parameters included serum vitamin D levels and this study defined a low vitamin D level as <30 nmol/L (<75 nmol/l).
• The assessment of clinical condition on admission and progression during hospital stay was measured using several clinical tools. The WHO Ordinal Scale of Clinical Improvement was used on admission and discharge. This scale ranks patients in meaningful categories but does not differentiate between underlying causes.

Osman W, Al Fahdi F, Al Salmi I, Al Khalili H, Gokhale A, Khamis F. Serum Calcium and Vitamin D levels: Correlation with severity of COVID-19 in hospitalized patients in Royal Hospital, Oman. Int J Infect Dis. 2021 Jun;107:153-163. doi: 10.1016/j.ijid.2021.04.050. Epub 2021 Apr 20. PMID: 33892191; PMCID: PMC8057687.