Covid-19 and vit-d: Disease mortality negatively correlates with sunlight exposure

Abstract

The novel COVID-19 disease is a contagious acute respiratory infectious disease whose causative agent has been demonstrated to be a new virus of the coronavirus family, SARS-CoV-2. Alike with other coronaviruses, some studies show a COVID-19 neurotropism, inducing de-myelination lesions as encountered in Guillain-Barré syndrome. In particular, an Italian report concluded that there is a significant vitamin D deficiency in COVID-19 infected patients. In the current study, we applied a Pearson correlation test to public health as well as weather data, in order to assess the linear relationship between COVID-19 mortality rate and the sunlight exposure. For instance in continental metropolitan France, average annual sunlight hours are significantly (for a p-value of 1.532 × 10 −32 ) correlated to the COVID-19 mortality rate, with a Pearson coefficient of -0.636. This correlation hints at a protective effect of sunlight exposure against COVID-19 mortality. This paper is proposed to foster academic discussion and its hypotheses and conclusions need to be confirmed by further research.

Investigating the Potential for Ultraviolet Light to Modulate Morbidity and Mortality From COVID-19: A Narrative Review and Update

“…Benefits for the UVB component of sunlight have also been reported, in which a negative association between the UV Index and COVID-19 deaths were observed in data from 152 countries using modeling that considered other potential effects of local weather (e.g., temperature, humidity) across January–May 2020 ( 49 ). Beneficial inverse associations between COVID-19 severity or death and local ambient UV levels or annual mean sunlight hours were also observed in Spain ( 50 ) and France ( 51 ), respectively, although this French study has been critiqued for the statistical approach undertaken ( 52 ). However, GDP and body mass index, but not mean UV Index (measured across November 2019–April 2020) were significant predictors of COVID-19 deaths (per million) in a multivariate regression analysis across the world ( 53 ).…”

The Role of Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Selenium in Immune System against COVID-19

“…Vitamin D Improving the physical barriers of the body by regulating the production of proteins for tight junctions [50], adherens junctions [51], and gap junctions [52] Stimulating the production of antimicrobial peptides, such as cathelicidin and defensins [55] Modulating T helper (Th) cell responses to induce a shift from Th1 to Th2 responses [61,62,64] Preventing cytokine storms by decreasing inflammatory cytokines [67,68] and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) activation [69] Inverse correlation between vitamin D level and viral respiratory tract infection [38][39][40] Vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency observed in patients with COVID-19 [41] Inverse correlation between COVID-19 mortality and sunlight exposure [45] or vitamin D level [43,48] Worse prognosis in COVID-19 patients with a low level of vitamin D [47,49] Selenium Preventing mutations in viral genome [71][72][73] Increasing CD4 + T cell activation, proliferation, and differentiation; inducing Th1 phenotype [74] Enhancing the function of cytotoxic effector cells by increasing the cytotoxicity of CD8 + T cells and lytic activity of natural killer (NK) cells [77] Maintaining T cell maturation and functions, including T cell-dependent antibody production [79,80] Preventing vasoconstriction and blood coagulation [87], which may increase COVID-19 mortality [81] Higher selenium level in surviving COVID-19 patients compared to deceased patients [16] Higher recovery rate from COVID-19 in patients with higher selenium levels [17] Author Contributions: Conceptualization: H.K. ; investigation, writing, and original draft preparation: M.B.…”

“…The prevalence rate of COVID-19 and the rate of related deaths were significantly higher in high-latitude states (latitude ≥ 37°) than in low-latitude states (latitude < 37°) in the United States [ 42 ]. The average annual hours of sunlight exposure was negatively correlated with COVID-19 mortality [ 45 ]. It has also been suggested that vitamin D deficiency (serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D level of 20 ng/mL or lower) and insufficiency (serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D level of 21 to 29 ng/mL) are associated with increased mortality in COVID-19 in Indonesia [ 43 ].…”

Vitamine D et Covid-19

“…L’équipe de Édouard Lansiaux a cherché à analyser la relation entre l’ensoleillement et le risque de décès chez les personnes ayant contracté la Covid-19 [10] . Cette étude, bien qu’observationnelle descriptive, a le mérite d’inclure un grand nombre de sujets.…”