(Dr. Narayana Subramaniam/ The Wire) — The recent publication of a high-profile study from India showing that patients with severe COVID-19 infections were more likely to have low vitamin D levels as well, and that the death rate was significantly higher among those with low vitamin D, has caused a flutter in the medical research community as well as among non-experts.
The authors of the study have also written that their results indicate mass supplementation of vitamin D to those at risk of developing COVID-19 infections.
Although this is one of many studies linking vitamin-D deficiency to severity of disease and fatality in COVID-19 patients, it is also unique in several ways.
Importantly, it was prospective, which means it studied patients using criteria that were determined before their hospital admission. This is as opposed to retrospective studies, which look at patients who have already been treated. (…)