The association between vitamin D status and COVID-19 in England: A cohort study using UK Biobank.
<h4>Background</h4>Recent studies indicate that vitamin D supplementation may decrease respiratory tract infections, but the association between vitamin D and COVID-19 is still unclear.<h4>Objective</h4>To explore the association between vitamin D status and infections, hospi...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Public Library of Science (PLoS)
2022-01-01
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| Series: | PLoS ONE |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269064 |
| _version_ | 1827993963270766592 |
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| author | Liang-Yu Lin Amy Mulick Rohini Mathur Liam Smeeth Charlotte Warren-Gash Sinéad M Langan |
| author_facet | Liang-Yu Lin Amy Mulick Rohini Mathur Liam Smeeth Charlotte Warren-Gash Sinéad M Langan |
| author_sort | Liang-Yu Lin |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | <h4>Background</h4>Recent studies indicate that vitamin D supplementation may decrease respiratory tract infections, but the association between vitamin D and COVID-19 is still unclear.<h4>Objective</h4>To explore the association between vitamin D status and infections, hospitalisation, and mortality due to COVID-19.<h4>Methods</h4>We used UK Biobank, a nationwide cohort of 500,000 individuals aged between 40 and 69 years at recruitment between 2006 and 2010. We included people with at least one serum vitamin D test, living in England with linked primary care and inpatient records. The primary exposure was serum vitamin D status measured at recruitment, defined as deficiency at <25 nmol/L, insufficiency at 25-49 nmol/L and sufficiency at ≥ 50 nmol/L. Secondary exposures were self-reported or prescribed vitamin D supplements. The primary outcome was laboratory-confirmed or clinically diagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infections. The secondary outcomes included hospitalisation and mortality due to COVID-19. We used multivariable Cox regression models stratified by summertime months and non-summertime months, adjusting for demographic factors and underlying comorbidities.<h4>Results</h4>We included 307,512 participants (54.9% female, 55.9% over 70 years old) in our analysis. During summertime months, weak evidence existed that the vitamin D deficiency group had a lower hazard of being diagnosed with COVID-19 (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.77-0.95). During non-summertime, the vitamin D deficiency group had a higher hazard of COVID-19 compared with the vitamin D sufficient group (HR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.01-1.30). No evidence was found that vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency was associated with either hospitalisation or mortality due to COVID-19 in any time strata.<h4>Conclusion</h4>We found no evidence of an association between historical vitamin D status and hospitalisation or mortality due to COVID-19, along with inconsistent results for any association between vitamin D and diagnosis of COVID-19. However, studies using more recent vitamin D measurements and systematic COVID-19 testing are needed. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:34:21Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-fa462095a21b444ea24beabd394b6798 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1932-6203 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-10T04:34:21Z |
| publishDate | 2022-01-01 |
| publisher | Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | PLoS ONE |
| spelling | doaj.art-fa462095a21b444ea24beabd394b67982023-03-10T05:32:18ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS ONE1932-62032022-01-01176e026906410.1371/journal.pone.0269064The association between vitamin D status and COVID-19 in England: A cohort study using UK Biobank.Liang-Yu LinAmy MulickRohini MathurLiam SmeethCharlotte Warren-GashSinéad M Langan<h4>Background</h4>Recent studies indicate that vitamin D supplementation may decrease respiratory tract infections, but the association between vitamin D and COVID-19 is still unclear.<h4>Objective</h4>To explore the association between vitamin D status and infections, hospitalisation, and mortality due to COVID-19.<h4>Methods</h4>We used UK Biobank, a nationwide cohort of 500,000 individuals aged between 40 and 69 years at recruitment between 2006 and 2010. We included people with at least one serum vitamin D test, living in England with linked primary care and inpatient records. The primary exposure was serum vitamin D status measured at recruitment, defined as deficiency at <25 nmol/L, insufficiency at 25-49 nmol/L and sufficiency at ≥ 50 nmol/L. Secondary exposures were self-reported or prescribed vitamin D supplements. The primary outcome was laboratory-confirmed or clinically diagnosed SARS-CoV-2 infections. The secondary outcomes included hospitalisation and mortality due to COVID-19. We used multivariable Cox regression models stratified by summertime months and non-summertime months, adjusting for demographic factors and underlying comorbidities.<h4>Results</h4>We included 307,512 participants (54.9% female, 55.9% over 70 years old) in our analysis. During summertime months, weak evidence existed that the vitamin D deficiency group had a lower hazard of being diagnosed with COVID-19 (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.86, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.77-0.95). During non-summertime, the vitamin D deficiency group had a higher hazard of COVID-19 compared with the vitamin D sufficient group (HR = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.01-1.30). No evidence was found that vitamin D deficiency or insufficiency was associated with either hospitalisation or mortality due to COVID-19 in any time strata.<h4>Conclusion</h4>We found no evidence of an association between historical vitamin D status and hospitalisation or mortality due to COVID-19, along with inconsistent results for any association between vitamin D and diagnosis of COVID-19. However, studies using more recent vitamin D measurements and systematic COVID-19 testing are needed.https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269064 |
| spellingShingle | Liang-Yu Lin Amy Mulick Rohini Mathur Liam Smeeth Charlotte Warren-Gash Sinéad M Langan The association between vitamin D status and COVID-19 in England: A cohort study using UK Biobank. PLoS ONE |
| title | The association between vitamin D status and COVID-19 in England: A cohort study using UK Biobank. |
| title_full | The association between vitamin D status and COVID-19 in England: A cohort study using UK Biobank. |
| title_fullStr | The association between vitamin D status and COVID-19 in England: A cohort study using UK Biobank. |
| title_full_unstemmed | The association between vitamin D status and COVID-19 in England: A cohort study using UK Biobank. |
| title_short | The association between vitamin D status and COVID-19 in England: A cohort study using UK Biobank. |
| title_sort | association between vitamin d status and covid 19 in england a cohort study using uk biobank |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0269064 |
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