Scientists from Canada's McGill University together with colleagues from Japan, Israel, Italy and the UK
The authors studied using the Mendelian methodDNA randomization of 4,134 people with COVID-19 and 1,284,876 people without COVID-19 from 11 countries to determine if a genetic predisposition to higher vitamin D levels is associated with less severe disease outcomes.
Most studies on the relationship between vitamin D andcoronavirus infection is very difficult to interpret because they do not take into account known risk factors for severe COVID-19, such as older age, hospitalization, and chronic disease, which are also predictors of low vitamin D levels. The best way to answer the question about the effect of vitamin D is randomized trials, but they are complex, require significant resources and take a lot of time, which is not available during a pandemic. The Mendelian randomization method can provide a clearer picture of the role of risk factors because it minimizes potential systematic errors.
Guillaume Butler-Laporte, Research Director
The authors note that over the past year there has beenSeveral studies on this topic have conflicting results or claim that increasing the amount of vitamin D consumed increases protection against COVID-19. However, none of the authors explained the mechanism of connection.
As a result of their large-scale work, the authors did not find out the connection between vitamin D levels and the severity of the coronavirus.
However, the authors note, their findings do not apply to people with vitamin D deficiency who need to take vitamin D supplements in a pandemic.
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