ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: Coronovirus 2019 (Covid-19) infection has been related to increased mortality amongst patients with lung disease. In this study it was aimed to showed the mortality rate and possible prognostic factors related to Covid-19 in connective tissue disease related interstitial lung disease patients (CTD-ILD) METHODS: In a tertiary referral center, patients with previously diagnosed CTD-ILD retrospectively reviewed. Between 1th April 2020 to 1 th April 2021 patients data related to ILD disease, Covid-19 infection and mortality obtained from electronic records retrospectively. The primary outcome was death at day 30 of COVID-19 infection RESULTS: There were 271patients diagnosed with CTD-ILD. 74 patients had Covid-19 infection, which was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction. 29 patients were dead during the followed-up period of whom 13 patients had Covid-19 infection-related mortality (17.5% vs 8.1%, p: 0.045). Covid-19 infection related to mortality was more frequently seen in patients with decreased forced vital capacity, smoking history, extended disease and rheumatoid arthritis. On multivariate regression analysis, only decreased forced vital capacity were related to poor outcomes. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Covid-19 infection is related to increased risk of mortality in CTD-ILD patients. Decreased forced vital capacity is a poor prognostic risk factor.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to investigate the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D status within the last 6 months prior to COVID-19 infection and parameters of immune function and clinical outcomes. METHODS: Fifty-six patients, who were admitted to the emergency clinic and diagnosed with COVID-19 infection, were included in the study. Data on clinical characteristics, inflammatory parameters and vitamin D status were recorded for each patient. All the participants had data on 25-hydroxyvitamin D status within the last 6 months prior to COVID-19 infection. RESULTS: The patients were stratified as those with vitamin D status less than 20 ng/mL and higher than 20 ng/mL. A group with vitamin D status less than 20 ng/mL had lower lymphocyte counts and lower haemoglobin levels that was statistically significant (respectively; p = 0.021, p = 0.035). Higher C-reactive protein (CRP) levels were seen in the vitamin D-deficient group (p = 0.013). It was observed that vitamin D status of the patients who required oxygen therapy were lower than those who did not require oxygen therapy, not statistically significant (p = 0.05). Patients who did not use vitamin D supplementation within 6 months prior to COVID-19 infection had more likely to be diagnosed with pneumonia (p = 0.004). CONCLUSION: Cases with lower vitamin D status had increased inflammatory markers and worse clinical outcomes than patients with higher vitamin D status. This study suggests that vitamin D status can be used as a prognostic factor in COVID-19 patients, and vitamin D supplementation can be recommended to improve the clinical outcomes in COVID-19 infection.