Spanish study shows activated form of vitamin D reduces severity of Covid-19 infection

CREDIT: Agencia Pública Sanitaria Poniente Facebook @agenciasanitariaponiente (file pic)

Research in Spain has found that high doses of calcifediol, an activated form of vitamin D, significantly reduced the need for ICU treatment of Covid-19 patients.

AS part of the study, 50 of 76 hospitalised patients were treated with calcifediol and only one needed to be admitted in ICU.

All of those studies were discharged without complications.

Of those patients who were not administered the drug, 13 were admitted into ICU and two died.

Calcifediol seemingly reduces the severity of the virus, although larger trials with groups properly matched will be required to establish a definitive answer.

“Our pilot study demonstrated that administration of a high dose of calcifediol or 25-hydroxyvitamin D, a main metabolite of vitamin D endocrine system, significantly reduced the need for ICU treatment of patients requiring hospitalisation due to proven Covid-19,” said lead author of the study report, Marta Entrenas Castillo of Reina Sofía University Hospital in Cordoba.

She added: “Calcifediol seems to be able to reduce severity of the disease, but larger trials with groups properly matched will be required to show a definitive answer.”

The researchers involved in the study, published in ScienceDirect, stressed that the vitamin D endocrine system “may have a variety of actions on cells and tissues involved in Covid-19 progression especially by decreasing the Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome.”

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Tara Rippin

Tara Rippin is a reporter for Spain’s largest English-speaking newspaper, Euro Weekly News, and is responsible for the Costa Blanca region.
She has been in journalism for more than 20 years, having worked for local newspapers in the Midlands, UK, before relocating to Spain in 1990.
Since arriving, the mother-of-one has made her home on the Costa Blanca, while spending 18 months at the EWN head office in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol.
She loves being part of a community that has a wonderful expat and Spanish mix, and strives to bring the latest and most relevant news to EWN’s loyal and valued readers.

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