Short Term, High Dose Vitamin D Supplementation in Moderate to Severe COVID-19 Disease

Summary

COVID-19 caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus has affected the lives of millions of individuals globally and also severely strained the medical community. Pre-symptomatic and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals far outnumber the symptomatic ones or those with severe disease. The transmission potential of SARS CoV-2 is potentially greater than earlier viral outbreaks of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV.Routine measures of social distancing, personal hand hygiene and limited outdoor contact activities have shown benefits to limit corona virus infection. However, the role of vitamin D in SARS-CoV-2 infection is sparingly explored despite the knowledge of an immunomodulatory role and protective effect of vitamin D against viral infections. Meta-analysis of five clinical trials of vitamin D supplementation found that those receiving vitamin D supplementation had fewer respiratory tract infections (odds ratio = 0.58 (95%CI, 0.42 - 0.81).Any immune-modulatory effect of vitamin D is likely to be observed at levels which are considered higher than that required for normal bone metabolism.

Timeline

Start

2021-08-01

Primary completion

2021-11-30

Completion

2021-12-10

Publications

• Singh A, Rastogi A, Puri GD, Ganesh V, Naik NB, Kajal K, Kahlon S, Soni SL, Kaloria N, Saini K, Hazarika A, Mahajan V, Singla K, Bhadada S, Soni V. Therapeutic high-dose vitamin D for vitamin D-deficient severe COVID-19 disease: randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study (SHADE-S). J Public Health (Oxf). 2024 May 29;46(2):256-266. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdae007.

Drugs

Indications