Can You Die From Vitamin D Deficiency

Can You Die From Vitamin D Deficiency

Does having low vitamin D put you at risk from coronavirus?

Originally published 19 June 2020

Updated 13 January 2021

News headlines have suggested that getting some vitamin D could mean you're less likely to die from coronavirus – what's the truth behind the news stories?

Research that was published in June suggested a link between having low levels of vitamin D and dying from coronavirus. This study was reported by the Mail, and other newspapers.

It came at a time when official bodies including the Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) were reviewing the role of Vitamin D in the context of respiratory infections and coronavirus. SACN have now stated that taking 10ug per day may provide some additional benefit in reducing the risk of acute respiratory tract infections. But more research is needed before a direct link can be made specifically with Covid-19.

This research, led by Dr Prabowo Raharusuna, looked at 780 people in Indonesia with confirmed Covid-19 infection and their levels of vitamin D.

The study found that the risk of death was highest in people who were older, male and who had pre-existing health conditions, and who also had below normal vitamin D levels. The first three of those factors are already well known to affect your risk of dying from coronavirus. It could be that these people were more likely to die because of their age, gender, or health, but the researchers said that they took those factors into account and found that having low vitamin D levels is strongly associated with risk of dying from Covid-19.

What were the results?

Most of the patients in the study who died were people with an existing condition – it's not clear from the study what these conditions were. The majority of people who were classed as either "vitamin D deficient" or "vitamin D insufficient" (this means levels that are low but not classed as a deficiency) had pre-existing conditions. Only 18.8% of cases with normal vitamin D levels had pre-existing conditions.

The research found that compared with normal levels, people with insufficient vitamin D were approximately 13 times more likely to die from the virus, while people who were vitamin D deficient were about 19 times more likely to die.

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How good was the research?

The research appears to only have been published as a preliminary finding and has not yet been peer-reviewed by fellow scientists, a process that helps uncover any shortcomings in the research and can help the authors publish more reliable scientific reports. There are some limitations in the research, which was written and published online in late April. The research summary lists five researchers, but details of their backgrounds were not provided.

The study was based on Indonesian patients with a different ethnic background to the British population, and Indonesia has a different climate from Britain. So we can't assume that the findings of the study would be the same in the British population. The body produces vitamin D from sunlight more slowly if you have darker skin, and there is some evidence that vitamin D deficiency could be one of the reasons why people with a Black or South Asian background have been more likely to die from coronavirus.

The most accurate way to measure how much vitamin D is in your body is usually considered to be the 25-hydroxy vitamin D blood test, which is what was measured in this research.

The study was only based 780 people, and only 388 of those had lower than normal vitamin D levels, so more research is needed with a larger number of people from a range of places before any firm conclusions can be drawn.

How good was the media coverage?

The story was widely covered, for example by the Daily Mail (and it was also their front-page story in their print issue on 18 June) and The Sun.

Some of the coverage sounds very frightening, particularly the Daily Mail Online's coverage, where the headline says: 'Terrifying chart shows how Covid-19 patients who end up in hospital may be almost certain to die if they have a vitamin D deficiency'.

The opening line of their story is 'Nearly 99 per cent of Covid-19 patients who are vitamin D deficient die'. But this doesn't get across the fact that the study does look at everyone who has died of Covid-19 - it is based on 780 people in Indonesia and importantly, the patients with normal vitamin D levels were healthier and younger – something that the Mail story mentions much farther down. (The overall study findings did account for differences in age and health, but the 99 per cent figure does not take those into account.)

The Sun and the Mail also quoted research showing that European countries whose populations have higher rates of vitamin D deficiency have higher death rates from coronavirus. But this does not prove cause and effect, especially when there are so many factors that affect death rates. Some of the graphs of death rates used by both newspapers are unclear and could be misleading.

The BHF view

More research is needed before a direct link can be made specifically between Vitamin D and the risk of catching, or severe illness from, Covid-19.

There is already government recommendation to take 10 micrograms of Vitamin D per day, as a safe and effective dose of the vitamin that will help to support bone and muscle health. More than this is not necessary, and is likely to be more expensive, but you can safely take up to 25 micrograms. Don't take very high doses of vitamin D, as if you do this over a long period of time, it can cause too much calcium to build up in the body, which can weaken the bones and damage the kidneys and the heart.

In December 2020, the government's Scientific Advisory Committee on Nutrition reviewed the evidence again and said that taking this amount may provide some additional benefit in reducing the risk of acute respiratory tract infections generally (not Covid-19 specifically). This review was not able to look at if these recommendations would be the same for people with darker skin, or people who are overweight or obese, because there was not enough evidence available.

A recent review of the best evidence available concluded that there is not enough evidence to recommend taking the vitamin specifically to prevent or treat Covid-19. More research is being carried out, and Public Health England (PHE) and National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) are working together to look at the evidence on vitamin D and Covid-19.

Regardless of what this study tells us, if you're not going out much, then taking a supplement would be a good idea because of the overall health risks of vitamin D deficiency.

Vitamin D if you're on the shielding list

If you're on the shielding list, you're eligible to have vitamin D supplements delivered to your home for free. You'll be sent a letter from the Government and can choose to opt in to receive four months' worth of supplements. Deliveries begin in January 2021, but it's best not to wait until then to start taking it. Vitamin D supplements are available from pharmacies and many supermarkets as well as online – if you don't shop online, you could ask friends or family or an NHS Volunteer Responder to collect them for you, perhaps at the same time as they get your other shopping.

If you're not on the shielding list but if you're not going out much, for example because you're staying at home more at the moment, then taking a vitamin D supplement is a good idea.

• Learn more about vitamin D, whether you should take supplements and if it helps your heart

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Can You Die From Vitamin D Deficiency

Source: https://www.bhf.org.uk/informationsupport/heart-matters-magazine/news/behind-the-headlines/coronavirus/coronavirus-and-vitamin-d