The role of vitamin D in the age of COVID‐19: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

  1. Roya Ghasemian
  2. Amir Shamshirian
  3. Keyvan Heydari
  4. Mohammad Malekan
  5. Reza Alizadeh‐Navaei
  6. Mohammad Ali Ebrahimzadeh
  7. Majid Ebrahimi Warkiani
  8. Hamed Jafarpour
  9. Sajad Razavi Bazaz
  10. Arash Rezaei Shahmirzadi
  11. Mehrdad Khodabandeh
  12. Benyamin Seyfari
  13. Alireza Motamedzadeh
  14. Ehsan Dadgostar
  15. Marzieh Aalinezhad
  16. Meghdad Sedaghat
  17. Nazanin Razzaghi
  18. Bahman Zarandi
  19. Anahita Asadi
  20. Vahid Yaghoubi Naei
  21. Reza Beheshti
  22. Amirhossein Hessami
  23. Soheil Azizi
  24. Ali Reza Mohseni
  25. Danial Shamshirian

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Abstract

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  1. Version published to 10.1111/ijcp.14675
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.05.20123554: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    A systematic search through databases of PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and Web of Science was done up to December 18, 2020.
    PubMed
    suggested: (PubMed, RRID:SCR_004846)
    Embase
    suggested: (EMBASE, RRID:SCR_001650)
    The search strategy included all MeSH terms and free keywords found for COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, and Vitamin D.
    MeSH
    suggested: (MeSH, RRID:SCR_004750)

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    Concerning all of the limitations and lack of high-quality data about the relation of vitamin D status and COVID-19 after several months, we have conducted this systematic review and meta-analysis to maximize the use of every available data, which would give us an overview toward further studies like what we have done recently on the effectiveness of hydroxychloroquine in COVID-19 patients 39, which have underestimated first, but the value was revealed after a while. According to available data entered into our meta-analysis, we could find that approximately 43% of the patients infected with SARS-CoV-2 were suffering from vitamin D deficiency, and this vitamin was insufficient in about 42% of them. We have also found that mean 25(OH)D levels were low (∼20 ng/mL) in all COVID-19 patients. More importantly, our analysis showed that the chance of infecting with SARS-CoV-2 is about three times higher in individuals with vitamin D deficiency and the probability of developing the severe disease in such patients is about 5 times higher than others. However, vitamin D deficiency did not substantially affected mortality rates in such patients. These findings are in the same line with studies that have debated the association of vitamin D and COVID-19 40–44. Recently, Kaufman et al. 45, studied the relation of SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates with circulation 25(OH)D among 191,779 patients retrospectively. They found the highest SARS-CoV-2 positivity rate among patients with vitamin D defic...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.05.20123554v4 on medRxiv
  4. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.05.20123554v3 on medRxiv
  5. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.05.20123554v2 on medRxiv
  6. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.06.05.20123554: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.RandomizationNevertheless , due to multiple limitations , if this study does not allow to quantify a " value " of the Vitamin D with full confidence , it allows at least to know what the Vitamin D might be and that it would be prudent to invest in this direction through comprehensive large randomized clinical trials .Blindingnot detected.Power AnalysisThe studies’ sample size ranged from 10 to 780 including 3,822 participants .Sex as a biological variableHypothetical strategy According to risk factors such as older age , male , obesity , underlying chronic disorders , higher latitudes , darker skin pigmentation etc. , which are common between Vitamin D deficiency and COVID-19 toward the severity of the condition , despite the various possible explanations , we hypothesize that vitamin D plays a role in severity of responses to COVID-19 and vitamin D deficiency can be in correlation with COVID-19 mortality rate and recovery rate.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Methods: A systematic search was performed in PubMed , Scopus , Embase , Cochrane Library , Web of Science and Google Scholar ( intitle ) as well as preprint database of medRxiv , bioRxiv , Research Square , preprints . org , search engine of ScienceDirect and a rapid search through famous journals up to May 26 , 2020 .
    Embase
    suggested: (EMBASE, SCR_001650)
          <div style="margin-bottom:8px">
        <div><b>bioRxiv</b></div>
        <div>suggested: (bioRxiv, <a href="https://scicrunch.org/resources/Any/search?q=SCR_003933">SCR_003933</a>)</div>
      </div>
    </td></tr><tr><td style="min-width:100px;vertical-align:top;border-bottom:1px solid lightgray">2.2.064 and SPSS v.</td><td style="min-width:100px;border-bottom:1px solid lightgray">
      <div style="margin-bottom:8px">
        <div><b>SPSS</b></div>
        <div>suggested: (SPSS, <a href="https://scicrunch.org/resources/Any/search?q=SCR_002865">SCR_002865</a>)</div>
      </div>
    </td></tr><tr><td style="min-width:100px;vertical-align:top;border-bottom:1px solid lightgray">A systematic search through databases of PubMed , Scopus , Embase , Cochrane Library , Web of Science and Google Scholar ( intitle ) as well as preprint database of medRxiv , bioRxiv , Research Square , preprints . org , search engine of ScienceDirect and a rapid search through famous journals was done up to May 26 , 2020 .</td><td style="min-width:100px;border-bottom:1px solid lightgray">
      <div style="margin-bottom:8px">
        <div><b>Cochrane Library</b></div>
        <div>suggested: (Cochrane Library, <a href="https://scicrunch.org/resources/Any/search?q=SCR_013000">SCR_013000</a>)</div>
      </div>
    
      <div style="margin-bottom:8px">
        <div><b>Google Scholar</b></div>
        <div>suggested: (Google Scholar, <a href="https://scicrunch.org/resources/Any/search?q=SCR_008878">SCR_008878</a>)</div>
      </div>
    </td></tr><tr><td style="min-width:100px;vertical-align:top;border-bottom:1px solid lightgray">The search strategy included all MeSH terms and free keywords found for COVID-19 , SARSCoV-2 , and Vitamin D .</td><td style="min-width:100px;border-bottom:1px solid lightgray">
      <div style="margin-bottom:8px">
        <div><b>MeSH</b></div>
        <div>suggested: (MeSH, <a href="https://scicrunch.org/resources/Any/search?q=SCR_004750">SCR_004750</a>)</div>
      </div>
    </td></tr><tr><td style="min-width:100px;vertical-align:top;border-bottom:1px solid lightgray">In this regard , alongside with our main objective , to find the second aim as an ecological investigation we carried out a literature search in PubMed database for identifying the national or regional studies reported the vitamin D status throughout the world.</td><td style="min-width:100px;border-bottom:1px solid lightgray">
      <div style="margin-bottom:8px">
        <div><b>PubMed</b></div>
        <div>suggested: (PubMed, <a href="https://scicrunch.org/resources/Any/search?q=SCR_004846">SCR_004846</a>)</div>
      </div>
    </td></tr></table>

    Results from OddPub: We did not find a statement about open data. We also did not find a statement about open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore is not a substitute for expert review. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers) in the manuscript, and detects sentences that appear to be missing RRIDs. SciScore also checks to make sure that rigor criteria are addressed by authors. It does this by detecting sentences that discuss criteria such as blinding or power analysis. SciScore does not guarantee that the rigor criteria that it detects are appropriate for the particular study. Instead it assists authors, editors, and reviewers by drawing attention to sections of the manuscript that contain or should contain various rigor criteria and key resources. For details on the results shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  7. Version published to 10.1101/2020.06.05.20123554v1 on medRxiv