Prevalence and association of vitamin D deficiency and mortality in patients with severe sepsis.

BACKGROUND

Vitamin D is a steroid prohormone that regulates body calcium and phosphate metabolism. Recent studies have shown an association between low vitamin D status and high mortality in patients admitted to intensive care units. To date, there are limited data available specifically about severely septic patients in medical units.

OBJECTIVES

To determine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in severely septic patients and its clinical outcomes, including mortality rate.

METHODS

A prospective observational study was conducted to investigate the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and its association with 30-day mortality in patients with severe sepsis. Patients admitted to medical wards at our hospital between November 2014 and March 2015 were included in the study. A 25-hydroxyvitamin D level <20 ng/mL was defined as vitamin D deficiency, and <12 ng/mL as severe deficiency. For an association analysis, the patients were grouped into deficient versus not deficient and severely deficient versus not severely deficient.

RESULTS

One hundred and ten eligible patients were enrolled. A total of 83 patients (75%) had vitamin D deficiency and 42 (38%) had severe deficiency. Despite an insignificant higher 30-day hospital mortality rate in vitamin D deficient versus non-deficient groups (16% vs 4%, =0.18), the differences were significant between the severely deficient versus non-severe groups (23% vs 4%, =0.02). The odds ratio of the 30-day mortality rate was 4.83 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.60-38.77, =0.14) for vitamin D deficiency and 7.69 (95% CI, 2.00-29.55, =0.003) for severe deficiency.

CONCLUSION

The prevalence of vitamin D deficiency was very high in three-quarters of patients with severe sepsis. A significant higher mortality rate was observed, particularly in patients with severe vitamin D deficiency.