Vitamin D levels less than 40 ng\/mL linked to increased risk for COVID-19 positivity in Black, but not White, individuals<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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THURSDAY, March 25, 2021 (HealthDay News) — The risk for having positive COVID-19 test results is 2.64-fold greater for Black individuals with a vitamin D level of 30 to 39.9 ng\/mL versus a level of \u00e2\u0089\u00a540 ng\/mL, according to a study published online March 19 in JAMA Network Open<\/em>.<\/p>\n David O. Meltzer, M.D., Ph.D., from University of Chicago, and colleagues examined whether COVID-19 test results are associated with differences in vitamin D levels \u00e2\u0089\u00a530 ng\/mL. The analysis included 4,638 individuals (mean age, 52.8 years; 69 percent women) who had data for a vitamin D level available within one year of COVID-19 testing.<\/p>\n The researchers found that lower vitamin D levels (<20 ng\/mL) were more common in Black individuals than White individuals. Among White individuals, a positive COVID-19 test result was not significantly associated with vitamin D levels. However, there was such an association among Black individuals (for <20 ng\/mL: incidence rate ratio [IRR], 2.55 [95 percent confidence interval (CI), 1.26 to 5.15; P = 0.009]; 20 to <30 ng\/mL: IRR, 1.69 [95 percent CI, 0.75 to 3.84; P = 0.21]; 30 to <40 ng\/mL: IRR, 2.64 [95 percent CI, 1.24 to 5.66; P = 0.01]). Estimated COVID-19 positivity rates in Black individuals were 9.72 percent for those with a vitamin D level <20 ng\/mL, 6.47 percent for individuals with a vitamin D level of 20 to <30 ng\/mL, 10.10 percent for individuals with a vitamin D level of 30 to <40 ng\/mL, and 3.82 percent for individuals with a vitamin D level of \u00e2\u0089\u00a540 ng\/mL.<\/p>\n “Because such levels exceed levels recommended for other reasons, individual and policy decisions about higher supplement dosing and vitamin D testing to achieve such levels should be even more carefully considered than dosing to avoid vitamin D deficiency as currently defined,” the authors write. <\/p>\n