According to a new analysis published in the journal JAMA Network Open , the deficiency of Vitamin D could be dangerous for coronavirus patients as it can exacerbate the health conditions.

Lead author of the study David Meltzer, MD, PhD, chief of hospital medicine at University of Chicago Medicine, Illinois stated in the paper, "Vitamin D is important to the function of the immune system and vitamin D supplements have previously been shown to lower the risk of viral respiratory tract infections. Our statistical analysis suggests this may be true for the Covid-19 infection."

The researchers mentioned that individuals with untreated Vitamin D deficiency were nearly twice as likely to test positive for Covid-19 as compared to their peers with adequate Vitamin D levels.

Meltzer and colleagues studied 489 University of Chicago Medicine patients (mean age 49 years, 75 per cent women) whose Vitamin D levels were determined two months before being tested for Covid-19.

Vitamin D status was categorized as likely deficient for 124 participants (25 per cent), likely sufficient for 287 (59 per cent), and uncertain for 78 (16 per cent). A total of 71 participants (15 per cent) tested positive for Covid-19.

The findings also raise the possibility that treatment for Vitamin D deficiency may lower the risk of Covid-19, the researchers said.

"If vitamin D does reduce Covid-19 incidence, it is tempting to consider whether it might reduce Covid-19 transmission," the authors hypothesized.

According to a Medscape report, Vitamin D boosts the innate immunity responses and it may also have the potential to tame Covid-19 infection and transmission.

Vitamin D also affects zinc metabolism, which could prevent the multiplication of the coronavirus.

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