PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - E Kenneth Weir
AU  - Thenappan Thenappan
AU  - Maneesh Bhargava
AU  - Yingjie Chen
TI  - Does vitamin D deficiency increase the severity of COVID-19?
AID  - 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0301
DP  - 2020 Jun 05
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - clinmed.2020-0301
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/early/2020/06/04/clinmed.2020-0301.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/early/2020/06/04/clinmed.2020-0301.full
AB  - The severity of coronavirus 2019 infection (COVID-19) is determined by the presence of pneumonia, severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (SARS-CoV-2), myocarditis, microvascular thrombosis and/or cytokine storms, all of which involve underlying inflammation. A principal defence against uncontrolled inflammation, and against viral infection in general, is provided by T regulatory lymphocytes (Tregs). Treg levels have been reported to be low in many COVID-19 patients and can be increased by vitamin D supplementation. Low vitamin D levels have been associated with an increase in inflammatory cytokines and a significantly increased risk of pneumonia and viral upper respiratory tract infections. Vitamin D deficiency is associated with an increase in thrombotic episodes, which are frequently observed in COVID-19. Vitamin D deficiency has been found to occur more frequently in patients with obesity and diabetes. These conditions are reported to carry a higher mortality in COVID-19. If vitamin D does in fact reduce the severity of COVID-19 in regard to pneumonia/ARDS, inflammation, inflammatory cytokines and thrombosis, it is our opinion that supplements would offer a relatively easy option to decrease the impact of the pandemic.