The results of a new clinical trial suggest that vitamin D supplements do not help people hospitalized with moderate to severe covid-19. Elsewhere, the Lancet has withdrawn a controversial and preliminary paper suggesting that vitamin D offered a benefit, due to “concerns” over the design of the research.
Vitamin D has become a new covid-19 panacea for some on social media, which has displaced past favorites like hydroxychloroquine. There are a lot of them tests that many people could use more vitamin D daily in their lives, especially during the winter. A deficiency of this vitamin, which can be taken as a supplement or synthesized in the skin under intense sunlight, can affect people’s overall health. But the evidence that vitamin D plays an important factor in the severity of covid-19 or that supplementing it could help treat ongoing cases is much less solid.
In late January, a study released on the SSRN prepress server — run by The Lancet — this image seemed to change. The authors claimed to have found that calcifediol (a byproduct of vitamin D) reduced the risk of mortality in covid-19 patients hospitalized in Spain by a whopping 60% compared to people receiving standard care. In comparison, the anti-arthritis drug was tocilizumab found recently to reduce mortality in patients with severe covid-19 by 4% in a large trial in the UK, modest results that are promising enough to enshrine it as standard treatment alongside steroids in critical cases.
But it wasn’t long before outside scientists it began a pose problems with these results. For example, the design of the study was described as a random, observational study by the authors at different points in the paper, two very different things. Randomized trials, in which some people are randomly assigned to receive treatment, are considered the standard of clinical evidence because they can better confirm that a drug has a real and beneficial effect on a disease. Observational studies, in which scientists simply observe the differences between groups of people receiving different care, are important in medicine, but their findings are generally viewed with more caution, because it is more difficult to know whether a particular treatment caused the disease. ‘effect. Other criticisms in the paper included the lack of relevant patient data (such as baseline vitamin D levels in some patients), as well as possible statistical defects. And, of course, the conclusions would still be preliminary, going through the process of peer review.
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Friday, The Lancet Removed the document from his prepress server, citing “concerns about the description of the research in this document.” He also announced that he would launch an investigation into the study.
Meanwhile, the results of what appears to be a true randomized trial of vitamin D by covid-19 were published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association, the largest study of its kind to date. Researchers in Brazil said they randomly assigned 240 people with moderate to severe covid-19 to the hospital to receive a single large dose of vitamin D (200,000 IU, compared to the daily dose of 600-800 IU recommended for an average adult) or a placebo.
All in all, they found no difference in the length of hospital stay between people taking vitamin D and those not. There were also no differences in mortality rate or other important metrics, such as the likelihood that someone would need invasive ventilation. And, although treatment seemed safe, one patient had an episode of vomiting probably tied up.
“The results do not support the use of a high dose of vitamin D3 for the treatment of moderate to severe COVID-19,” the authors wrote.
The JAMA study is still just a trial and nothing should be decided in medicine from a single study. And again, too many people don’t get as much vitamin D as they need, so nothing happens to check levels with the help of a doctor. But the pandemic has seen countless possible treatments coming and going with little effectiveness to prove it.
In general, it is difficult to test the specific effect of vitamin D intake in any condition, because it is often an indicator of other things. Someone with high levels of vitamin D may also be someone who exercises often outdoors, for example, and it may be exercise or their overall good health that provides a protective boost.
If vitamin D has a benefit for covid-19, it is likely to be modest at best. And the lack of enthusiasm for it certainly, treatment is not evidence of a large conspiracy in which doctors minimize vitamin D so that they can charge more expensive drugs, as some have suggested. After all, the most effective and life-saving medicine for covid-19 to date is dexamethasone, a generic steroid that can cost less than $ 10 per treatment.