More than eight out of 10 hospitalised patients with COVID-19 had a vitamin D deficiency, compared to around half of a similar population without the illness, a study from Spain shows.

Researchers reported that serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-D) levels in 197 hospitalised COVID-19 patients were 34.4nmol/L, significantly lower than levels of 52.2nmol/L seen in the same number of sex-matched population-based controls.

However, there was no link between levels of 25OHD and markers of COVID-19 severity including ICU admission, the need for mechanical ventilation or mortality.

University of Cantabria researchers found 82% of the coronavirus group, all admitted to a hospital in the northern city of Santander, were vitamin-D deficient, compared with 47% of the controls.