Vitamin D status and seroconversion for COVID-19 in UK healthcare workers

[摘要] The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is a global health emergency, resulting in over 50 million infections and over 1.2 million deaths as of mid-November 2020 [1]. Healthcare workers are at a high risk of COVID-19 with large numbers of deaths reported around Europe and the UK, particularly among staff in the Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) demographic group [2]. COVID-19 has disproportionately affected BAME individuals even after accounting for age, sex, social deprivation and comorbidity [3]. Vitamin D deficiency (VDD) is common in those of BAME ethnicity [4]. In VDD, both innate and adaptive immunity becomes dysregulated, increasing the risk of respiratory infection, as seen in influenza, common cold viruses and tuberculosis [5, 6]. There has been a great deal of interest in the role of VDD in COVID-19, with recent evidence suggesting VDD is more frequent in patients with severe COVID-19 compared to mild cases [7]. The prevalence of VDD and association with COVID-19 in healthcare workers has not been investigated.

[学科分类] 呼吸医学