“Methods: We carried out a population-based study among 4.6 million members of Clalit Health Services (CHS). We collected results from vitamin D tests performed between 2010 and 2019 and used weighted linear regression to assess the relationship between prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and Covid-19 incidence in 200 localities…
Discussion: In this large population study on individuals of diverse ethnic groups, we have uncovered what appears to be a strong and significant association between low vitamin D levels and the risk of SARSCoV-2 infection. Individuals with low baseline vitamin D levels were significantly more prone to get infected with SARS-CoV-2…
Several potential mechanisms have been proposed to explain the observed association between vitamin D levels and the risk of Covid-19 infection. Notably, viruses could disrupt the cell junction integrity, while vitamin D may maintain cell junctions and hence decrease the risk of infection; vitamin D also enhances cellular innate immunity partly through the induction of antimicrobial peptides which can interfere with viral replication.
In our study, we observe that vitamin D supplementation, particularly in the form of drops, provides a significant protection against SARS-CoV-2 infection. To our knowledge, this is the first population study to identify a significant protective effect for vitamin D formulations against SARS-CoV-2.”
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