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Review
. 2024 Nov 14;25(22):12205.
doi: 10.3390/ijms252212205.

COVID-19 in Children and Vitamin D

Teodoro Durá-Travé  1   2 , Fidel Gallinas-Victoriano  2   3
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 in Children and Vitamin D

Teodoro Durá-Travé et al. Int J Mol Sci. .

Abstract

In December 2019, the so-called "coronavirus disease 2019" (COVID-19) began. This disease is characterized by heterogeneous clinical manifestations, ranging from an asymptomatic process to life-threatening conditions associated with a "cytokine storm". This article (narrative review) summarizes the epidemiologic characteristics and clinical manifestations of COVID-19 and multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C). The effect of the pandemic confinement on vitamin D status and the hypotheses proposed to explain the age-related difference in the severity of COVID-19 are discussed. The role of vitamin D as a critical regulator of both innate and adaptive immune responses and the COVID-19 cytokine storm is analyzed. Vitamin D and its links to both COVID-19 (low levels of vitamin D appear to worsen COVID-19 outcomes) and the cytokine storm (anti-inflammatory activity) are detailed. Finally, the efficacy of vitamin D supplementation in COVID-19 is evaluated, but the evidence supporting vitamin D supplementation as an adjuvant treatment for COVID-19 remains uncertain.

Keywords: COVID-19; MIS-C; SARS-CoV-2 infection; vitamin D; vitamin D deficiency; vitamin D insufficiency; vitamin D supplementation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Severity of illness in children with COVID-19.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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