Can Vitamin D Predict the Severity of COVID-19 Symptoms in Children?
Written by Nathan Tran
Edited by Jada Co
July 31st 2021
Edited by Jada Co
July 31st 2021
Ever since the onset of the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in early 2020, outdoor activities have decreased due to the need to minimize risks of contracting infection. With this state of lockdown that has been ongoing for over a year, many children and students have been lacking in physical activity and exposure to sunlight. Exposure to sunlight is especially important as vitamin D, an essential nutrient, is produced by the body when skin comes into contact with UV light. Although it has been shown that symptoms of COVID-19 are less severe in children than in other infected age groups, they can evolve into a much more serious complication known as Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). From this, can lower vitamin D levels be a possible predictor for the prevalence and severity of MIS-C along with using it as a supplement lead to clinical outcomes?
Although it is most known from being synthesized in the skin due to exposure to the sun’s UV light, vitamin D can come from food sources and supplements. It is a hormone (chemical signal) for the body and gets activated once it is in the liver before being converted into an active form by immune cells where it acts as a regulator for the immune system via vitamin D receptors on target cells. A review of the relationship between vitamin D and SARS-CoV-2 infection in adults have shown the mortality and morbidity of COVID-19 cases with vitamin D levels (Feketea, 2021). In that vein, they also discuss the role of vitamin D in MIS-C, a derived complication of COVID-19, in children. Depending on the severity of a disease and higher immune system responses, the use of vitamin D in the body during inflammation is elevated and would result in lower levels due to that depletion. This is supported by studies that have shown several cytokines (signaling molecules of the immune system that lead to inflammatory responses) are regulated and lowered by vitamin D as the vitamin helps reduce inflammation. From this, vitamin D is a possible predictor in the progression of MIS-C in infected pediatric patients.
Characterized as a condition when various parts of the body become inflamed, MIS-C occurs three to four weeks after the onset of infection due to the activation of the immune system against Coronavirus. To better determine the severity of a possibly fatal disease such as MIS-C, indicators for prognosis in children would help corroborate medical treatment and approaches such that vitamin D is a potential one. Furthermore, as only association of levels of vitamin D and severity of symptoms of COVID-19 have been observed, randomized clinical trials to show a cause and effect relationship would inform and aid our knowledge of this and possibly establish whether or not vitamin D supplementation is beneficial.
Works Cited
Feketea, G., Vlacha, V., Bocsan, I. C., Vassilopoulou, E., Stanciu, L. A., & Zdrenghea, M.
(2021). Vitamin D in Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Related Multisystem
Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). Frontiers in immunology, 12, 648546. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.648546
Image Source: "Different pills and capsules isolated on white and Covid-19 text" by Jernej Furman
licensed under CC BY 2.0
licensed under CC BY 2.0