The fight against misinformation needs a hero like you.
Add your views to this topic by signing up. You’ll also be able to add or vote on sources, and start new topics. Because if you don’t fight misinformation, who will?
A meta-analysis brought together results from 25 trials with more than 10,000 participants who were randomised to receive vitamin D or a placebo. It found vitamin D supplementation reduced the risk of acute respiratory infections, but only when it was given daily or weekly.
Studies assessing intensive care unit patients have reported high rates of deficiency even before COVID-19. A study found a strong association between vitamin D concentrations and clinical complications (acute respiratory insufficiency, acute liver failure, and infections).
A 2020 review has found that lower vitamin D levels, among other factors, in black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) populations did not account for the disparity in coronavirus deaths within the community.
Add your views to this topic by signing up. You’ll also be able to add or vote on sources, and start new topics. Because if you don’t fight misinformation, who will?
A 2020 report by Professor Rose Anne Kenny at Trinity College Dublin suggests that Vitamin D might help improve the health of 'shielding' groups—those who are more at risk of developing a serious illness if they catch COVID-19.
Scientists from University of East Anglia compared vitamin D levels and coronavirus rates across European countries, and found low vitamin D was associated with increased risk of coronavirus infection and death from the illness. However, this study hasn't been peer reviewed.
The non-peer reviewed study concluded "there was no evidence related to vitamin D deficiency predisposing to COVID-19, nor were there studies of supplementation for preventing or treating COVID-19."
Add your views to this topic by signing up. You’ll also be able to add or vote on sources, and start new topics. Because if you don’t fight misinformation, who will?
The review concludes that in the largest UK study (Hastie et al. 2020), "no causal relationship between vitamin D status and COVID-19 was found after adjustment for confounders such as comorbidity, socio-demographics, ethnicity, BMI and other baseline factors."
A meta-analysis of 25 trials found the benefits of regular supplementation were greatest among participants who were severely vitamin D deficient to begin with—for whom the risk of respiratory infection went down by 70%. In others, the risk decreased by 25%.
The prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency (VDI) in intensive care unit (ICU) patients was 84.6%, compared with 57.1% in floor patients. Strikingly, 100% of ICU patients less than 75 years old had VDI. VDI and severe COVID-19 share numerous associations, including advanced age.
Add your views to this topic by signing up. You’ll also be able to add or vote on sources, and start new topics. Because if you don’t fight misinformation, who will?
A collaborative team from Trinity College Dublin, the University of Liverpool and the Irish Longitudinal Study on Ageing have been looking at how vitamin D impacts mortality rates among those with coronavirus. They found the number of deaths were lower among those countries.