Is there a relationship between vitamin D levels, inflammatory parameters, and clinical severity of COVID-19 infection?

OBJECTIVES: This study is aimed to determine the relationship between 25-OH vitamin D levels, inflammatory parameters of neutrophil­to­lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet­to­lymphocyte ratio (PLR), c­reactive protein (CRP) levels and the disease severity of COVID-19 infection. BACKGROUND: Inflammation plays a key role in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 while identifying the clinical course and prognosis. The effect of vitamin D deficiency on contribution to inflammation in COVID-19 is unclear. METHODS: Based on the classification of the clinical course of COVID-19, the patients were divided into three groups, i.e., with mild (Group 1), moderate (Group 2) and severe/critical cases (Group 3). The 25-OH vitamin D values were defined as deficient, insufficient or normal. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in the distribution rates of 25-OH vitamin D levels (p>0.05) between the groups. Inflammatory parameters in Group 3 were statistically significantly higher as compared to Groups1 and 2 (p<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that NLR was an independent predictor of disease severity. CONCLUSION: There is no relationship between the severity of COVID-19 infection and 25-OH vitamin D deficiency. Inflammatory parameters are associated with the disease severity, while NLR is an independent predictor of severe COVID-19. There was no correlation between 25-OH vitamin D and inflammatory markers (Tab. 4, Fig. 1, Ref. 38).

Relationship between arm span and height in postmenopausal osteoporotic women.

Osteoporosis is a progressive systemic skeletal disease characterized by low bone density and microarchitectural deterioration of the bone. A minimum 3-cm difference between arm span and height makes up one of the criteria for suspecting osteoporosis. Therefore, it is easy to determine osteoporotic women by measuring the proportion of height to the arm span. The purposes of this study are to assess the relationship between arm span and height and to compare them in postmenopausal and young healthy women. This was a randomized-controlled, prospective study. There were two groups in this study. Group I included 70 postmenopausal osteoporotic women and group II had 70 healthy young women. Height, weight and arm span of the individuals were measured in all subjects. Bone mineral density and radiological examination of spine were also evaluated. Mean age of postmenopausal women was 64.4 +/- 8.6 years and it was 27.3 +/- 3.5 years in young healthy women. Mean height was 152 +/- 5.1 and 161.5 +/- 5.9 cm in group I and II, respectively. Mean arm span length was 159.6 +/- 6.3 cm in postmenopausal women and 163.5 +/- 6 cm in young healthy women. Mean arm span-height difference was significantly higher in postmenopausal women when compared to healthy young women (7.7 +/- 3.6 and 2 +/- 2.9 cm, respectively, P < 0.001). We suggest that arm span measurements can be used in the estimation of youth height and age-related loss in stature in postmenopausal women.