A new study, published in the journal Respirology, finds that patients admitted to the hospital with pneumonia are more likely to die if they have a vitamin D deficiency.
Measuring vitamin D in the blood samples of 112 adult patients, the researchers found that vitamin D deficiency was associated with higher mortality within the first 30 days after hospital admission for pneumonia. The association between vitamin D deficiency was not explained by patient age, sex, comorbities, the severity of the systemic inflammatory response, or other known prognostic factors.
The researchers are calling for an investigation of whether vitamin D supplements could be a useful addition to pneumonia treatment and whether using supplements could help prevent or reduce the severity of pneumonia among high-risk populations.
Source: Wiley-Blackwell
