The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses a worldwide healthcare challenge that needs an efficient response. Unfortunately, to date there is no highly effective treatment, so a deep understanding of COVID-19 risk factors could be an important step in treating the disease. Vitamin D affects the immune system in many different ways, and other authors already found that COVID-19 patients have low levels of vitamin D. In our retrospective study, we evaluated the vitamin D status at the time of hospital admission in 50 COVID-19 patients in Sicily, which is the southernmost region of Italy, and compared them with 100 control subjects matched for age and sex. Our data showed markedly low levels of vitamin D in patients with a positive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), but no association was found with inflammation markers or clinical severity. Vitamin D levels were reduced at the time of hospital admission in Sicilian SARS-CoV-2-positive patients, but it is not clear whether this condition has an impact on the clinical course of COVID-19.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, Vitamin D, immune system, Sicily, 【초록키워드】 Treatment, coronavirus disease, SARS-CoV-2, coronavirus, pandemic, Italy, risk factor, Retrospective study, Clinical course, PCR, healthcare, Patient, Hospital admission, association, Clinical severity, Vitamin D status, COVID-19 patient, acute respiratory syndrome, vitamin D level, SARS-CoV-2-positive patients, positive, Affect, effective, polymerase chain, the disease, evaluated, reduced, age and sex, control subject, inflammation marker, 【제목키워드】 time, Level,