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COVID infection 5X more likely if under 40 ng of Vitamin D - Hollis May 2025


Exploring the association between vitamin D status and Corona Virus-19 infection in a cohort of adults aged 50 years and older

Clinical Nutrition https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nutos.2025.05.007
Carol L. Wagner, MD1 wagnercl at musc.edu ∙ John E. Baatz, PhD2 ∙ Myla Ebeling, RA1 ∙ Danforth A. Newton, PhD2 ∙ Judith R. Shary, MS1 ∙ Mathew Gregoski, PhD3 ∙ Mark T. Wagner, PhD4 ∙ David Zava, PhD5 ∙ Carole Baggerly, BA6,# ∙ Sonya Ketchens, BS7 ∙ Jeffrey Korte, PhD3 ∙ Bruce W. Hollis, PhD1

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Objective
Evaluate the association between vitamin D (vitD) status and Corona Virus-19 (COVID-19) infection in adults aged 50 years and older.

Design
Adults ≥50 undergoing COVID-19 testing from July 2020 to December 2021, without prior vaccination, consented to blood analysis. SARS-CoV-2 PCR confirmed current COVID-19 infection. VitD status was assessed via 25(OH)D concentration (LCMS/MS, ZRT Labs, Portland, OR). Sociodemographic data were collected at enrollment. Statistical analyses (SAS 9.4) examined associations between sociodemographics, COVID-19, and vitD status. Multivariate logistic regression analyzed factors linked to COVID-19 or vitD status.

Results
Of 131 participants, 46.6% were ≥65 years old, 71.0% married, 19.9% Black American, 36.6% male, 38.9% Medicaid/Medicare/self-pay, and 42.8% BMI≥30. VitD status and Black American (p=0.0001) significantly associated with COVID-19 infection (p=0.0001). Black American (p=0.0003), males (p=0.003), and BMI (p=0.007) were inversely associated with 25(OH)D concentration. In a multiple logistic regression model predicting COVID-19 infection, only vitamin D status remained significant after controlling for certain sociodemographic and clinical factors (p<0.0001, OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.89-0.95).
Of the 44 COVID-positive participants, 35 (79.6%) were hospitalized and 19 (43.2%) were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU).

  • Hospitalization due to COVID-19 was associated with age ≥65 years old (p=0.02; OR 12.0, 95% CI 1.34-106.79), male (p=0.02, OR 10.7, 95% CI 1.20-94.73),
  • and 25(OH)D <40 ng/mL (p=0.0006, OR 42.5, 95% CI 3.90-461.01).

In multivariate analysis, the association between vitamin D status and the risk of COVID-related hospitalization
remained significant and inversely associated (p=0.03, OR 0.88, 95% CI 0.78-0.99).
In unadjusted analysis, COVID pneumonia was associated with male sex (p=0.049; OR 4.6, 95% CI 1.06-20.16 ) and 25(OH)D <40 ng/mL (p=0.006, OR 18.8, 95% CI 1.9-184.10).
Participants with COVID infection and 25(OH)D <20 ng/mL were 2.1 times more likely to be admitted to ICU/death (p=0.03).
In unadjusted analysis, ICU admission and/or death were linked to age ≥65 years (p=0.0002, OR 16.9, 95% CI 3.63-78.56), Medicaid/Medicare/self-pay insurance status (p=0.004, OR 0.1, 0.04-0.56), and 25(OH)D <20 (p=0.03, OR 3.9, 1.09-13.66) and <40 ng/mL (p=0.03); however, only age ≥65 remained significant in multivariate analysis (p=0.04, OR 6.7, CI 1.05-43.0).

Conclusions
Lower 25(OH)D concentration was a significant predictor and/or contributor to COVID-19 infection, suggesting the importance of maintaining adequate vitamin D status in reducing infection risk and mitigating severe outcomes.
This paper is only available as a PDF.
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki


8 of the relevant pages in VitaminDWiki

  1. Over 718 Virus studies have Vitamin D in the title
  2. After COVID infection, Vitamin D helps - many studies
  3. Vitamin D meets Hill’s Criteria for fighting COVID (adult about 5,000 IU daily) – Feb 2025
  4. COVID and 25 Vitamin D RCTs discussed – Jan 2025
  5. Vitamin D preventing and treating COVID - 30,000 publications – Oct 2024
  6. 15.3 X fewer COVID deaths in those getting Vitamin D injections in ICU – RCT July 2024
  7. COVID and Vitamin D: 2X more likely to die if low, 2X more likely to survive if supplement – umbrella meta-analysis April 2024
  8. Prevent a COVID death: 9 dollars of Vitamin D or 900,000 dollars of vaccine - Aug 2023


Attached files

ID Name Comment Uploaded Size Downloads
22704 COVID infection pos or neg.webp admin 03 Jun, 2025 60.70 Kb 92
22703 COVID 50 plus_CompressPdf.pdf admin 03 Jun, 2025 525.75 Kb 13