Table 1. Characteristics of hospitalized COVID-19 patients stratified by pre-infection 25(OH)D level measured 14 to 730 days before positive COVID-19 test.
| No. (%) | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | Most recent 25(OH)D level (ng/mL) before COVID-19 test (N = 253) | p value 2-sided (between groups) | p value 2-sided (<20 compared with ≥20) | ||||
| <20 | 20–29.9 | 30–39.9 | ≥40 | ||||
| No. of patients | 133 | 36 | 44 | 40 | |||
| Age, y | |||||||
| mean (std) | 68.4 (15.9) | 62.2 (17.9) | 55.7 (20.7) | 57.8 (21.0) | p < 0.001§ | p < 0.001^ | |
| Range | 27.3–95.8 | 22.7–92.7 | 19.3–92.7 | 19.8–90 | |||
| <50 | 18 (13.5) | 8 (22.2) | 18 (40.9) | 17 (42.5) | p < 0.001§ | p < 0.001† | |
| 50–64 | 36 (27.1) | 14 (38.9) | 10 (22.7) | 6 (15.0) | |||
| ≥65 | 79 (59.4) | 14 (38.9) | 16 (36.4) | 17 (42.5) | |||
| Sex | |||||||
| Female | 69 (51.9) | 18 (50.0) | 30 (68.2) | 27 (67.5) | p = 0.10 | p = 0.10 | |
| Male | 64 (48.1) | 18 (50.0) | 14 (31.8) | 13 (32.5) | |||
| Ethnicity | |||||||
| Arabs | 83 (64.3) | 16 (44.4) | 33 (76.7) | 19 (47.5) | p = 0.006 | p = 0.30 | |
| Non-Arabs | 46 (35.7) | 20 (55.6) | 10 (23.3) | 21 (52.5) | |||
| COVID-19 disease severity category (WHO) | |||||||
| Mild | 7 (5.3) | 8 (22.2) | 37 (84.1) | 28 (70.0) | p < 0.001 § | p < 0.001 † | |
| Moderate | 50 (37.6) | 24 (66.7) | 3 (6.8) | 9 (22.5) | |||
| Severe | 64 (48.1) | 3 (8.3) | 4 (9.1) | 3 (7.5) | |||
| Critical | 12 (9.0) | 1 (2.8) | 0 (0.0) | 0 (0.0) | |||
| BMI | |||||||
| mean (std) | |||||||
| <30 | 98 (73.7) | 32 (88.9) | 34 (77.3) | 34 (85.0) | p = 0.163 | p = 0.07 | |
| ≥30 | 35 (26.3) | 4 (11.1) | 10 (22.7) | 6 (15.0) | |||
| Mortality during hospitalization | |||||||
| Yes | 34 (25.6) | 1 (2.8) | 1 (2.3) | 2 (5.0) | p < 0.001 | p < 0.001 | |
| No | 99 (74.4) | 35 (97.2) | 43 (97.7) | 38 (95.0) | |||
| Comorbidities | |||||||
| COPD | 82 (61.7) | 15 (41.7) | 20 (45.5) | 18 (45.0) | p = 0.048 | p = 0.006 | |
| Chronic heart failure | 16 (12.0) | 3 (8.3) | 1 (2.3) | 2 (5.0) | p = 0.211‡ | p = 0.07 | |
| Chronic ischemic heart disease | 16 (12.0) | 3 (8.3) | 3 (6.8) | 1 (2.5) | p = 0.316‡ | p = 0.124 | |
| Chronic renal disease | 17 (12.8) | 5 (13.9) | 3 (6.8) | 3 (7.5) | p = 0.60‡ | p = 0.425 | |
| Diabetes | 56 (42.1) | 9 (25.0) | 12 (27.3) | 13 (32.5) | p = 0.125 | p = 0.03 | |
| Hypertension | 82 (61.7) | 16 (44.4) | 21 (47.7) | 18 (45.0) | p = 0.092 | p = 0.02 | |
Abbreviations: BMI, body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared); COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019; Patient data includes COVID-19 admission between Apr 7th, 2020 to Feb 4th, 2021 who had serum 25(OH)D level measured between 14 to 730 days before positive PCR test. Most recent 25(OH)D level was depicted for the purpose of the study.
p values were determined using the Pearson Chi-Square test unless mentioned otherwise.
^ p values were determined using the independent t-test.
‡ p values were determined using the Fisher-Freeman-Halton Exact Test.
§ p values were determined using Kruskal-Wallis Test.
† p values were determined using Mann-Whitney Test.