Vitamin D and COVID-19: An Overview of Recent Evidence
Review Int J Mol Sci. 2021 Sep 29;22(19):10559. doi: 10.3390/ijms221910559.
Drishti Ghelani 1, Simon Alesi 1, Aya Mousa 1
Monash Centre for Health Research and Implementation (MCHRI), Public Health and Preventive Medicine,
Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC 3168, Australia;
- drishti.ghelani@monash.edu
- simon.alesi@monash.edu
- aya.mousa@monash.edu Correspondence
42 studies in Table 2 - see below
Consensus
Low Vitamin D is associated with poor COVID-19
Supplementation before infection can help (If enough is given)
Controversial: supplementation will treat COVID-19
probably need a loading dose soon after infection
Vitamin D meta-analyses for Virus
- COVID ICU use reduced by 42% if take more than 100,000 IU of vitamin D over two weeks – meta-analysis Sept 2024
- Vaccinations did not stop COVID (68 studies) – meta-analysis May 2023
- Influenza risk cut in half by the only trial giving enough vitamin D for body weight – meta-analysis Jan 2022
- Multiple Vitamin D doses reduced COVID ICU by 2.5 X , Mech. Ventilation by 5.5 X – meta-analysis May 2024
- COVID death rate in hospital halved if take any amount of vitamin D for any length of time – meta-analysis May 2024
- COVID and Vitamin D: 2X more likely to die if low, 2X more likely to survive if supplement – umbrella meta-analysis April 2024
- COVID fought by Vitamin D: 2.3X less likely to die of COVID if supplemented, 1.9 X less likely to become infected – meta-analysis March 2024
- COVID Vaccinations increased risk of cardiac deaths in youths by 19% - Aug 2023
- T1 Diabetes increased by 27% by second year of COVID – meta-analysis June 2023
- Yet another reason to take Vitamin D while pregnant – fight COVID - meta-analysis May 2023
- COVID death 1.5 X less likely if high vitamin D, emergency D (50K to 100K) is great – meta-analysis March 2023
- COVID ICU 3X less-likely if take any amount and type of Vitamin D – meta-analysis Jan 2023
- COVID and Vitamin D: any amount of D, at any time, for any duration reduced ICU - meta-analysis Dec 2022
- Worse COVID during 3Q pregnancy if 2.5 ng lower Vitamin D – meta-analysis Sept 2022
- Severe COVID 2.6 X less likely if supplement with Vitamin D – 26th meta-analysis - July 2022
- COVID Long-Haul prevalence increases with time: 50% at 4 months - meta June 2022
- COVID test positive is about half as likely if have Vitamin D – 24th meta-analysis - Jan 2022
- Small amounts of Vitamin D reduce Influenza risk by 22 percent (loading dose is far better) – meta-analysis Jan 2022
- Vitamin D fights COVID (54 studies of 1,400,000 people) – 23rd meta-analysis - Dec 2021
- COVID-19 treated by Vitamin D (reduce ICU by 3X) - 22nd meta-analysis - Dec 29, 2021
- COVID-19 death increased 2X if low Vitamin D (less than 10 to less than 30 ng) – 21st meta-analysis Dec 2021
- COVID-19 risk reduced by vitamin D supplementation – umbrella review of 7 meta-analysis – Oct 2021
- COVID-19 treated by Vitamin D (example: ICU reduced by 5X) – 20th meta-analysis Oct 13, 2021
- Severe COVID-19 2.5 X more likely if low vitamin D (23 studies) – 19th meta-analysis Oct 2021
- COVID-19 mortality extrapolates to zero at 50 ng of vitamin D – 18th Meta-analysis Sept 2021
- COVID-19 death 1.6 X more likely if low vitamin D (24 studies) – 17th meta-analysis Aug 2021
- Severe COVID-19 5X more likely if low vitamin D (23 studies) – 16th meta-analysis July 2021
- Severe COVID-19 3.5 more likely if low vitamin D (30 studies) – meta-analysis July 2021
- COVID-19 patients who had supplemented with Vitamin D were 3X less likely to enter ICU – June 2021
- Low Calcium associated with severe COVID-19 – several studies
- COVID-19 mortality 3X more likely if low vitamin D (999,179 people) – meta-analysis March 29, 2021
- COVID-19 was 2.6X more severe if very low Vitamin D (43 studies) – meta-analysis March 26, 2021
- Low Vitamin D associated with 2.7X more severe COVID-19 – 12th MA March 5, 2021
- Vitamin D supplementation fights COVID-19 – 11th meta-analysis Jan 24, 2021
- 3.7 X less likely to die of COVID-19 if supplemented with Vitamin D - meta-analysis Jan 5, 2021
- Less likely to test positive for COVID-19 if higher Vitamin D – meta-analysis Jan 6, 2021
- Vitamin D reduces COVID-19 by 80 percent - anonymous meta-analysis - Jan 5, 2021
- COVID-19 1.7X more likely to be severe if low Vitamin D - meta-analysis Oct 2020
- Low Vitamin D associated 1.8X increased risk of COVID-19 death in hospital – meta-analysis Nov 4, 2020
- Acute viral respiratory infections (RTI) reduced by Vitamin D - 20 reviews - Aug 2020
- Prudent to consider that Vitamin D has a role in COVID-19 – meta-analysis – Aug 7, 2020
- Risk of enveloped virus infection is increased 50 percent if poor Vitamin D Receptor - meta-analysis Dec 2018
- Hepatitis B patients have 2 ng lower level of Vitamin D – meta-analysis June 2019
- Influenza Vaccination not benefited by lowish levels of vitamin D – meta-analysis March 2018
COVID-19 treated by Vitamin D - studies, reports, videos
- As of March 31, 2024, the VitaminDWiki COVID page had: trial results, meta-analyses and reviews, Mortality studies see related: Governments, HealthProblems, Hospitals, Dark Skins, All 26 COVID risk factors are associated with low Vit D, Fight COVID-19 with 50K Vit D weekly Vaccines Take lots of Vitamin D at first signs of COVID 166 COVID Clinical Trials using Vitamin D (Aug 2023) Prevent a COVID death: 9 dollars of Vitamin D or 900,000 dollars of vaccine - Aug 2023
5 most-recently changed Virus entries
Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki
The novel coronavirus severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS-CoV-2) has progressed rapidly from an outbreak to a global pandemic, with new variants rapidly emerging. Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the disease resulting from SARS-CoV-2 infection, can lead to multiorgan damage. Due to the extremely contagious and fatal nature of the virus, it has been a priority of medical research to find effective means of treatment. Amid this search, the role of vitamin D in modulating various aspects of the innate and adaptive immune system has been discussed. This review aims to consolidate the research surrounding the role of vitamin D in the treatment and prevention of COVID-19.
While there are some conflicting results reported, the consensus is that vitamin D has a host of immunomodulatory effects which may be beneficial in the context of COVID-19 and that low levels of vitamin D can result in dysfunction of crucial antimicrobial effects, potentially contributing to poor prognosis.
Studies also show that the effects of low vitamin D can be mitigated via supplementation, although the benefits of vitamin D supplementation in the treatment of COVID-19 remain controversial.