Effect of daily high-dose oral vitamin D therapy on inflammatory markers in patients with COVID 19 disease

Lakkireddy, M., Gadiga, SG, Malathi, RD, et al. Impact of daily high-dose oral vitamin D therapy on inflammatory markers in patients with COVID 19 disease. SCI Rep 11, 10641 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-90189-4

Commentary

This study examined vitamin D replacement therapy for immune dysregulation caused by COVID-19. As immune dysregulation is characterized by an increase in inflammatory biomarkers such as N/L ratio, CRP, LDH, IL6 and ferritin, vitamin D is a potential immune modulator and therefore an adjunctive role in therapy was established by this study.

Results reported that adjunctive pulse D therapy can be safely added to existing treatment protocols for COVID-19, as improving serum vit. D levels to 80-100 ng/ml resulted in a significant reduction in inflammatory markers without side effects. However, this is based on the results of a single center study.

Subjects were randomized into two groups: VD and NVD. The VD group received standard treatment plus pulsed D therapy (60,000 IU of vitamin D supplemented daily for 8 or 10 days, depending on BMI); the NVD group received standard treatment only. The NVD group received only standard care, and 87 of the 130 subjects completed the study.