Vitamin D deficiency increases mortality risk in pneumonia patients
The researchers found that Vitamin D deficiency was associated with higher mortality within the first 30 days after hospital admission for pneumonia.
Scientists have found that adult patients admitted to the hospital with pneumonia are more likely to die if they have Vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D is known to be involved in the innate immune response to infection.The team of researchers at Waikato Hospital and the Universities of Waikato and Otago, measured vitamin D in the blood samples of 112 adult patients admitted with community acquired pneumonia during the winter at the only acute-care hospital in Hamilton, New Zealand.The researchers found that Vitamin D deficiency was associated with higher mortality within the first 30 days after hospital admission for pneumonia. The association between vitamin D deficiency was not explained by patient age, sex, comorbidities, the severity of the systemic inflammatory response, or other known prognostic factors.The researchers concluded that, improved understanding of Vitamin D and its role in immunity may lead to better ways to prevent and/or treat pneumonia.The study was published in the journal Respirology.