Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Vitamin D deficiency is a common health problem worldwide, particularly in elderly patients. Vitamin D is considered a key hormone in mineral and bone metabolism, as well as in functions such as the regulation of cell proliferation and differentiation, its immunoregulatory activity, its effect on the cardiovascular system and its neuroprotective and anti-ageing effects, among others. Hypovitaminosis D has been linked in multiple studies to a higher incidence and severity of COVID-19 infection, as well as to increased mortality. It is also involved in muscle function, maintaining strength and physical performance, and there is evidence to support the association between vitamin D deficiency and an increased risk of sarcopenia, frailty and sarcopenic obesity. The aim of this study is to compare different clinical, bioelectrical and ultrasound characteristics according to serum vitamin D levels in a cohort of patients after having been admitted to the ICU for severe SARS-COV2 pneumonia.

Methods: Vitamin D levels, in no case supplemented, as well as other demographic, anthropometric, ultrasound, bioelectric, analytical and hospital stay-related variables were collected in a cohort of 29 patients 15 days after hospital discharge following admission to the ICU for severe SARS-COV2 pneumonia. These variables were then compared according to serum vitamin D levels. For this purpose, patients were classified into 3 categories according to vitamin D levels (≤20 ng/ml, 20-29.99 ng/ml, ≥30 ng/ml).

Results: Statistically significant differences were observed in the degree of obesity according to BMI (P=0.037) and age (P=0.032) as a function of serum vitamin D concentration, while a trend towards statistical significance was observed in other variables such as skeletal muscle mass (SMM)/kg. No differences were observed in other variables such as sex, diabetes, sarcopenia, sarcopenic obesity, malnutrition (according to GLIM criteria), ultrasound or bioelectrical variables. In the correlation analysis, vitamin D levels correlated significantly positively with albumin levels (r=0.499, P=0,022).

Conclusion: Vitamin D only shows a significant positive correlation with albumin levels. In our cohort, only the degree of obesity and age showed statistically significant differences according to vitamin D levels, but no differences were found in other clinical, bioelectrical and ultrasound parameters.