Respiratory deaths in seniors – 40 percent are attributable to low vitamin D – Aug 2020

Vitamin D Insufficiency and Deficiency and Mortality from Respiratory Diseases in a Cohort of Older Adults: Potential for Limiting the Death Toll during and beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Nutrients 2020, 12(8), 2488; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12082488

Approx 8X less likely to die of respiratory problems if 50 ng vs 10 ng
Hermann Brenner 1,2,3,4,*OrcID,Bernd Holleczek 1,5 and Ben Schöttker 1,4OrcID

• 1 Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, Germany Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), 69118 Heidelberg, Germany
• 2 Division of Preventive Oncology, Germany Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
• 3 German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), Germany Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany
• 4 Network Aging Research, University of Heidelberg, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany
• 5 Saarland Cancer Registry, 66119 Saarbrücken, Germany

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The COVID-19 pandemic goes along with increased mortality from acute respiratory disease. It has been suggested that vitamin D3 supplementation might help to reduce respiratory disease mortality. We assessed the prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency, defined by 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) blood levels of 30–50 and <30 nmol/L, respectively, and their association with mortality from respiratory diseases during 15 years of follow-up in a cohort of 9548 adults aged 50–75 years from Saarland, Germany. Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency were common (44% and 15%, respectively).
Compared to those with sufficient vitamin D status, participants with vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency had strongly increased respiratory mortality, with adjusted hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) of

• 2.1 (1.3–3.2) and 3.0 (1.8–5.2) overall,
• 4.3 (1.3–14.4) and 8.5 (2.4–30.1) among women, and
• 1.9 (1.1–3.2) and 2.3 (1.1–4.4) among men.

Overall, 41% (95% confidence interval: 20–58%) of respiratory disease mortality was statistically attributable to vitamin D insufficiency or deficiency.
Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency are common and account for a large proportion of respiratory disease mortality in older adults, supporting the hypothesis that vitamin D3 supplementation could be helpful to limit the burden of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among women.

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People die sooner if they have low vitamin D

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• More vitamin D means fewer deaths – many studies
• Much more likely to live longer if higher vitamin D – 27,000 seniors Feb 2017
• 2,000 IU of Vitamin D daily to German Seniors would save 30,000 lives a year – March 2021
• Dr. Grant on vitamin D and mortality in VitaminDWiki
• Top 10 causes of death - low vitamin D is associated with every cause - Nov 2018
• Taking vitamin D extends life - 56 trials with 100,000 people - Dr. Greger video July 2016
• Much more likely to live longer if higher vitamin D – 27,000 seniors Feb 2017
• Low Vitamin D is associated with dying sooner (70 studies) – meta-analysis Jan 2019
• 4.8 X more likely to die within 28 days of ICU if low Vitamin D - Jan 2024
• Chance of dying in hospital cut in half by just 10 ng higher level of Vitamin D – April 2016
• Senior women having low vitamin D were 2X more likely to die - Sept 2023
• Risk of death after bone fracture was 6.6 X higher if less than 10 ng of vitamin D – June 2017

There are 321 articles in Mortality category