Introduction : The present study aimed to determine the impact of vitamin D supplementation on recovery delay among COVID-19 patients.
Methods : We performed a randomized controlled clinical trial in the national center for COVID-19 confinement, from May to August 2020. Simple randomization was done in a 1:1 allocation ratio. We included patients aged more than 18 years who had confirmed RT PCR and who remained positive on the 14 th day. The intervention group received vitamin D supplementation (200,000 IU / 1 ml of Cholecalciferol), the control group received a placebo treatment (physiological saline (1 ml)). We measured the recovery delay and the E gene SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCR Cycle threshold (Ct) values. The Log rank test and Hazard ratios (HR) were calculated.
Results : A total of 117 participants were enrolled. The mean age was 42.7 years (SD 14). Males represented 55.6%.The median duration of viral RNA conversion was 37 days ( 95% CI: 29-45.50) in intervention group and 28 days ( 95% CI: 23-39) in the placebo group (p=0.010). HR was 1.58 ( 95% CI: 1.09-2.29, p=0.015). Ct values revealed a stable trends over time in both groups.
Conclusion : Vitamin D supplementation was not associated with a shortened recovery delay when given to patients for whom the RT-PCR remained positive on the 14th day.
Trial registration: This study was approved by the Human Subjects Protection Tunisia center (TN2020-NAT-INS-40) on May 05, 2020 and by clinical trial.gov with approval number Clinical Trials.gov ID: NCT04883203.