Vitamin D status of Arab Gulf residents screened for SARS-CoV-2 and its association with COVID-19 infection: a multi-centre case–control study
Nasser M Al-Daghri, Osama E Amer, Naif H Alotaibi, Dara A Aldisi, Mushira A Enani, Eman Sheshah, Naji J Aljohani, Naemah Alshingetti, Suliman Y Alomar, Hanan Alfawaz, Syed D Hussain, Abdullah M Alnaami, Shaun Sabico
Journal of Translational Medicine, doi:10.1186/s12967-021-02838-x
Objectives: Vitamin D status in patients with COVID-19 is an on-going controversial issue. This study aims to determine differences in the serum 25(OH)D concentrations of Arab Gulf adult residents screened for SARS-CoV-2 and its association with risk of COVID-19 infection together with other comorbidities.
Methods: In this multi-center, case-control study, a total of 220 male and female adults presenting with none to mild symptoms were screened for COVID-19 (n = 138 RT-PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 positive and 82 negative controls). Medical history was noted. Anthropometrics were measured and non-fasting blood samples were collected for the assessment of glucose, lipids, inflammatory markers and serum 25(OH)D concentrations. Results: Serum 25(OH)D levels were significantly lower in the SARS-CoV-2 positive group compared to the negative group after adjustment for age and BMI (52.8 nmol/l ± 11.0 versus 64.5 nmol/l ± 11.1; p = 0.009). Being elderly (> 60 years) [Odds ratio 6 (95% Confidence Interval, CI 2-18; p = 0.001) as well as having type 2 diabetes (T2D) [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] ; p < 0.001)] and low HDL cholesterol (HDL-c) [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] ; p < 0.001)] were significant risk factors for COVID-19 infection independent of age, sex and obesity. Conclusions: Among Arab Gulf residents screened for SARS-CoV-2, serum 25(OH) D levels were observed to be lower in those who tested positive than negative individuals, but it was the presence of old age, diabetes mellitus and low-HDL-c that were significantly associated with risk of COVID-19 infection. Large population-based randomized controlled trials should be conducted to assess the protective effects of vitamin D supplementation against COVID-19.
Abbreviations
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https:// doi. org/ 10. 1186/ s12967-021-02838-x. Additional file 1: Table S1 . Differences in 25(OH)D Levels Adjusted for Different Models with Associations to Age and BMI. Table S2 . Differences in 25(OH)D Levels in Males and Females tested for SARS-Cov-2 (Unadjusted and Adjusted for Age and BMI).
Authors' contributions NMA and SS conceived and designed the experiments; NAA, DAA, MAE, ES, NJA and NA recruited participants; OEA and AMA analyzed the samples; SS and SDH analyzed the data; SYA and HA contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools; OEA drafted the paper. SS revised and edited the paper. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Declarations Ethics approval and consent to participate Ethical approval was obtained from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) in the College of Medicine (E-20-4803), KSUMC in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and written informed consents were obtained from all participants prior to inclusion.
Consent for publication applicable.
Competing interests The authors declare no conflict of interest. The sponsors had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, and in the decision to publish the results.
Publisher's Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
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