Study of the Relationship between Vitamin D Level and the Increase in the Severity of Covid-19 Infection in Kirkuk City

Abstract

The study aimed to find the relation between Covid-19 infection and reduction in vitamin-D levels andwith development of severe infection The study was conducted in Kirkuk city during July 2020, included120 COVID-19 patients who diagnosed by collecting of naso/oropharyngeal swabs and the virus RNAwas qualitatively detected by real-Time PCR in Public Health Laboratory according manufactureinstruction and WHO protocol. The study also included 30 healthy persons as control group. The studyincluded the collection of blood samples for determination of vitamin-D level (I-chroma, Korea) by directimmunofluorescence technique and according to manufacture instruction. The study also included collectionof associated information like age, sex, residence, BMI and by contacting with all patients daily until the10th day of infection to know their status after treatment. The study showed that, majority of patients wereaged from 22 to 41 years of old (P. value <0.001). The study showed that 62.5% of COVID-19 patientswere males compared with 37.5% females (P<0.05). The study showed that were asymptomatic, 44.17% ofcases of COVID-19 patients were with mild infection and 10% were with severe infection (P<0.001). Thestudy showed a significant relation between Covid-19 infection status with age as the highest mean of ageof Covid-19 infected patients was recorded in those who with severe infection. The study showed that thelowest mean of serum Vitamin was found in COVID-19 patients comparing with healthy control (12.8±3.6v.s. 29.3±3.1 ng/ml) (P: <0.001). The study also demonstrated that the level of vit. D was significantlyreduced in severe infected COVID-19 patients followed by patients with moderate infection and the highestmean was in patients with asymptomatic infection (P<0.001).