Preventive Vitamin D Supplementation and Risk for COVID-19 Infection: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Over the past few decades, vitamin D has been found to play a crucial role in bone homeostasis, muscle function, oncogenesis, immune response and metabolism. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous researchers have tried to determine the role vitamin D might play in the immune response to...

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Published in:Nutrients 2024-02, Vol.16 (5), p.679
Main Authors: Sartini, Marina, Del Puente, Filippo, Oliva, Martino, Carbone, Alessio, Bobbio, Nicoletta, Schinca, Elisa, Giribone, Luana, Cristina, Maria Luisa
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alfacalcidol
Calcifediol
COVID-19
Cross-sectional studies
Dietary Supplements
Epidemics
Health aspects
Humans
Immune response
Immune system
Infections
Medical personnel
Meta-analysis
Mortality
Pandemics
Physiological aspects
prevention
Quasi-experimental methods
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Systematic Review
Vitamin D
Vitamin deficiency
Vitamins
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Summary:Over the past few decades, vitamin D has been found to play a crucial role in bone homeostasis, muscle function, oncogenesis, immune response and metabolism. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, numerous researchers have tried to determine the role vitamin D might play in the immune response to the virus. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to demonstrate that preventive vitamin D supplementation can play a protective role in the incidence of COVID-19, mortality and admission to intensive care units (ICUs). A comprehensive search on the PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Cochrane and Google Scholar databases was performed on 15 May 2023, and two of the authors independently screened the literature. As effect measures, we calculated the Odds Ratios with their corresponding 95% confidence intervals (ICs). The assessment of potential bias and the evaluation of study quality will be conducted independently by two researchers. Sixteen publications were selected for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Our findings indicate that vitamin D supplementation has a protective effect against the incidence of COVID-19 in RCT studies (OR 0.403, 95% IC 0.218, 0.747), in the incidence of COVID-19 in analytical studies (OR = 0.592, 95% IC 0.476-0.736) and in ICU admission (OR 0.317, 95% IC 0.147-0.680). Subsequent analyses were conducted by type of subject treated (patient/healthcare workers) and type of supplementation (vitamin D vs. placebo/no treatment or high dose vs. low dose). Our meta-analysis suggests a definitive and significant association between the protective role of vitamin D and COVID-19 incidence and ICU admission.
ISSN:2072-6643
2072-6643
DOI:10.3390/nu16050679