The Role of Vitamin D in Mitigating COVID-19 Infection Severity: Focusing on Reducing Health Disparities in South Carolina

Vitamin D (vitD) deficiency is more prevalent among African Americans and Latinx and in the elderly who have low exposure to sunlight. African Americans and nursing home residents who contract SARS-CoV-2, the novel virus that first appeared in Wuhan, China, and who develop the disease designated COVID-19 experience a much worse clinical outcome than other groups. Some have speculated that low vitD status could exacerbate COVID-19 infection, especially if the viral infection reaches the lower respiratory tract.

Sufficient vitD may help to improve the pulmonary immune response to the virus, reduce the dangerous cytokine storm, and lessen surfactant dysregulation, potentially preventing or ameliorating the acute syndrome. To maximize the benefits of vitD on host response to SARS-CoV-2, prophylactic supplementation to ensure sufficiency before COVID-19 would be the preferable public health option. Yet, vitD supplementation during acute infection may also improve overall clinical outcome in some infected patients. It is a relatively inexpensive therapy that has a large safety profile when given in doses of 4000-6000 international units/day to adults.

To date, there is no effective cure or preventive vaccine for COVID-19. Given the risk of disease and death, any intervention that reduces the morbidity and mortality from COVID-19 would be of immense value. We hypothesize that achieving and sustaining vitD sufficiency through dietary supplementation will result in improved immune function and a decrease in COVID-19 incidence and symptomatology. Importantly, this objective will address the significant health disparity of vitD deficiency among black, Latina and the elderly. We further hypothesize that those individuals with a circulating 25(OH)D of ≥40 ng/mL will have less severe COVID-19 symptoms, particularly among higher risk populations. We will compare the effectiveness of higher dose vitD vs. standard of care dosing.To test these hypotheses, we propose the following Aims:

1. Focusing on prevention, this Aim will test whether achieving vitD sufficiency (as defined by total circulating 25(OH)D ≥40-60 ng/mL) in individuals at risk for deficiency will improve clinical outcomes in those who subsequently develop COVID-19.
2. Focusing on vitD as mitigation therapy, this Aim will evaluate the effectiveness of bolus dosing followed by daily vitD supplementation in achieving the target 25(OH)D range of ≥40-60 ng/mL in those individuals testing positive for COVID-19 at MUSC/affiliated hospital facilities, but do not require admission to a hospital (outpatient) and will examine whether achieving this target range is associated with less severe COVID-19 and differences in inflammatory cytokine profiles.

In the prevention arm of this project (Aim 1), individuals at higher risk ≥50 years of age who test negative for COVID-19 at MUSC/its affiliate hospitals, and agree to daily vitD supplementation for a 12-month period, with vitD status measured monthly will be randomized to placebo or prescribed vitD (6000 IU/day) to achieve a total circulating 25(OH) concentration of ≥40-60 ng/mL. We will compare study groups regarding subsequent infection with COVID-19, severity of symptoms, need and duration of hospitalization (LOS), admission to the ICU, need for ventilatory support, and mortality, along with return to baseline activities and/or work, as a function of age, BMI, and other recognized COVID-19 risk factors. In the mitigation arm of this project (Aim 2), non-hospitalized individuals ≥50 years of age who test COVID-19 positive will be randomized to placebo or a bolus of oral vitD (20,000 IU X 3 days) followed by 6000 IU vitD/day, and we will compare study groups on measures of disease severity as in Aim 1. All participants in both Aims 1 and 2 will receive a daily multivitamin (MVI) containing 800 IU VitD for the 12-month period.