ArticleBMJ open2022
COVID-19 pandemic and vitamin D: rising trends in status and in daily amounts of vitamin D provided by supplements.
Article in BMJ open, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 17 citations in OpenAlex.
- Sustained Shifts in Dietary Supplement Use Years After COVID-19: A Post-Pandemic Evaluation of Behaviors, Perceptions, and Predictors of Change in Jordan.Risk management and healthcare policy · 2026Article
- Pandemic-related changes in seasonal vitamin D disparities among preschool children: a community-based cross-sectional study.Frontiers in nutrition · 2026Article
- Vitamin D Status in Children: Romania's National Vitamin D Screening Programme in Context of the COVID-19 Pandemic.Medical sciences (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Observational
- Article
- Evaluating low and high vitamin D levels in Ecuadorian cities from 2018 to 2022: interrupted time series and a cross-sectional study.BMJ open · 2024Article
- Impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on the vitamin D status of people in the West of Ireland.Irish journal of medical science · 2024Article
- Intermittent High-Dose Vitamin D3 Administration in Neonates with Multiple Comorbidities and Vitamin D Insufficiency.Children (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Article
- Association between Average Vitamin D Levels and COVID-19 Mortality in 19 European Countries-A Population-Based Study.Nutrients · 2023Review
- Article
- Article
- Vitamin D Supplementation and COVID-19 Outcomes: Mounting Evidence and Fewer Doubts.Nutrients · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesSince the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, there have been plausible suggestions about the need to augment vitamin D intake by supplementation in order to prevent SARS-CoV2 infection and reduce mortality. Some groups have advocated supplementation for all adults, but governmental agencies have advocated targeted supplementation. We sought to explore the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on both vitamin D status and on the dose of new-to-market vitamin D supplements.
settingUniversity hospital, Dublin, Ireland.
participantsLaboratory-based samples of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD) (n=100 505). PRIMARY AND SECONDARY OUTCOME MEASURES: Primary outcomes: comparing yearly average 25OHD prior to the pandemic (April 2019 to March 2020) with during the pandemic (April 2020 to March 2021) and comparing the dose of new-to-market vitamin D supplements between 2017 and 2021 (n=2689). SECONDARY OUTCOME: comparing prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and vitamin D excess during the two time periods.
resultsThe average yearly serum 25OHD measurement increased by 2.8 nmol/L (61.4, 95% CI 61.5 to 61.7 vs 58.6, 95% CI 58.4 to 58.9, p<0.001), which was almost threefold higher than two similar trend analyses that we conducted between 1993 and 2016. There was a lower prevalence of low 25OHD and a higher prevalence of high 25OHD. The dose of new-to-market vitamin D supplements was higher in the years 2020-2021 compared with the years 2017-2019 (p<0.001).
conclusionsWe showed significant increases in serum 25OHD and in the dose of new-to-market vitamin D supplements. The frequency of low vitamin D status reduced indicating benefit, but the frequency of vitamin D excess increased indicating risk of harm. Rather than a blanket recommendation about vitamin D supplementation for all adults, we recommend a targeted approach of supplementation within current governmental guidelines to at-risk groups and cautioning consumers about adverse effects of high dose supplements on the market.
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