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Is Vitamin D Deficiency a Risk Factor for Covid 19 in Children ?
  • kamil YILMAZ,
  • Velat Şen
kamil YILMAZ
Dicle Üniversitesi

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Velat Şen
Dicle Üniversity
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Abstract

Objective: In this study, we aimed to determine the prevalence and clinical importance of vitamin D deficiency in children and adolescent patients who were hospitalized with the diagnosis of COVID-19. Material and Methods: 40 patients who were diagnosed to have COVID-19 and hospitalized with the real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) method were included. The control group consisted of 45 healthy patients with normal vitamin D levels. The age of admission, clinical and laboratory data, and 25-hydroxycholecalciferol (25-OHD) and parathormone (PTH) levels were recorded. Those with vitamin D levels which are below 20 ng/ml were determined as Group 1 and those with ≥20 ng/ml as Group 2. Results: The median levels of vitamin D level were 13.14 (4.19-69.28) in the group of patients with COVID-19 and 34.81(3.8-77.42) in the control group. Compared to the control group, there was a statistically significantly lower vitamin D level (p <0.001) in the COVID-19 patient group. At admission, the symptom of fever was significantly higher in Group 1 than in Group 2 (p =0.038). The distribution of disease severity according to vitamin D levels was not found significantly different. In conclusion; our study is the first to evaluate vitamin D levels and its relationship with clinical findings in pediatric patients diagnosed with COVID-19. There are significantly lower levels of vitamin D in children with COVID-19 than those in the control group. This shows that vitamin D, which is effective in the immunological mechanism, also has an effect in the physiopathology of the disease.
26 Jun 2020Submitted to Pediatric Pulmonology
26 Jun 2020Submission Checks Completed
26 Jun 2020Assigned to Editor
30 Jun 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
14 Jul 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
17 Jul 2020Editorial Decision: Revise Major
03 Sep 20201st Revision Received
04 Sep 2020Submission Checks Completed
04 Sep 2020Assigned to Editor
04 Sep 2020Reviewer(s) Assigned
29 Sep 2020Review(s) Completed, Editorial Evaluation Pending
30 Sep 2020Editorial Decision: Accept
05 Oct 2020Published in Pediatric Pulmonology. 10.1002/ppul.25106