ABSTRACT
The aim of the research was to study the association of genetic prerequisites for vitamin D deficiency with the severity of COVID-19 infection and to analyze the association of the severity of the disease with the level of vitamin D in blood plasma. Materials and methods. The study included 72 patients, divided into two groups - group No. 1 and group No. 2. Inclusion criteria for group 1: patients with a history of mild COVID-19 infection and patients who did not have COVID-19. Group 2 included patients with moderate to severe COVID-19 infection. The study for the analysis of nucleotides in the loci rs1544410, rs2228570, rs3829251, rs2282679 of the VDR, NADSYN1, GC genes was carried out by the standard TaqMan PCR method on a Real-Time CFX96 Touch amplifier. The duration of the study was 6 months. Results. Group 1 included 59 patients, the average age of patients in the group was: 41.28±2.00. Group 2 included 13 patients, the average age of patients in the group was 48.10 ± 2.76. When assessing the contribution of the genotypes of polymorphic locus rs1544410 of the VDR gene, rs2228570 of the VDR gene, rs3829251 of the NADSYN1 gene, rs2282679 of the GC gene to the severity of the COVID-19 infection, no statistically significant results were found. Also, of the 72 patients studied, 55 patients had known serum vitamin D levels before they had COVID-19 infection. In 43 people, vitamin D was contained at an adequate concentration (≥30 ng/ml (≥75 nmol/l), of which: 40 patients had mild COVID-19 or did not tolerate this disease and 3 patients had moderate COVID-19 - severe form of an average vitamin level. Twelve people had vitamin D deficiency (≥ 20 and <30 ng/mL (≥50 and <75 nmol/L)). Of these, 7 patients had mild or no COVID-19 and 5 patients had moderate to severe COVID-19. When statistically evaluating the data, a statistical significance was found between the severity of the COVID-19 infection and the level of vitamin D in the blood plasma. Conclusion. An associative relationship was found between the level of vitamin D in blood plasma and the severity of the course of the COVID-19 infection. In the studied sample of patients, no association was found between the genotypes of the studied genes and the severity of the COVID-19 infection. © 2022 Global Media Technologies. All rights reserved.
ABSTRACT
This review summarizes relevant scientific literature analyzing the lung-gut axis and its association with coronavirus infection (COVID-19), lesions to the gastrointestinal tract caused by this infection, and state of the microbiome. Approximately 20%–50% of COVID-19 patients have such symptoms as nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, as well as SARS-CoV-2 RNA detected in their feces. Therefore, investigation of the virus effect on the gastrointestinal tract and its commensal flora is important not only for research purposes, but for clinical practice, since patients with COVID-19 demonstrate both qualitative and quantitative changes in their microbiome. The latter may serve as a basis for the development of additional probiotic therapy for gastrointestinal lesions in COVID-19 patients. Despite the existing evidence, it is still necessary to clarify the effect of the intestinal microbiome on the pathogenesis of coronavirus infection and the disease course. © 2021, Dynasty Publishing House. All rights reserved.