{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,17]],"date-time":"2026-04-17T22:16:09Z","timestamp":1776464169669,"version":"3.51.2"},"reference-count":42,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"11","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,3]],"date-time":"2021-11-03T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1635897600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Nutrients"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Vitamin D might play a role in counteracting COVID-19, albeit strong evidence is still lacking in the literature. The present multicenter real-practice study aimed to evaluate the differences of 25(OH)D3 serum levels in adults tested for SARS-CoV-2 (acute COVID-19 patients, subjects healed from COVID-19, and non-infected ones) recruited over a 6-month period (March\u2013September 2021). In a sample of 117 subjects, a statistically significant difference was found, with acute COVID-19 patients demonstrating the lowest levels of serum 25(OH)D3 (9.63 \u00b1 8.70 ng\/mL), significantly lower than values reported by no-COVID-19 patients (15.96 \u00b1 5.99 ng\/mL, p = 0.0091) and healed COVID-19 patients (11.52 \u00b1 4.90 ng\/mL, p &gt; 0.05). Male gender across the three groups displayed unfluctuating 25(OH)D3 levels, hinting at an inability to ensure adequate levels of the active vitamin D3 form (1\u03b1,25(OH)2D3). As a secondary endpoint, we assessed the correlation between serum 25(OH)D3 levels and pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6) in patients with extremely low serum 25(OH)D3 levels (&lt;1 ng\/mL) and in a subset supplemented with 1\u03b1,25(OH)2D3. Although patients with severe hypovitaminosis-D showed no significant increase in IL-6 levels, acute COVID-19 patients manifested high circulating IL-6 at admission (females = 127.64 \u00b1 22.24 pg\/mL, males = 139.28 \u00b1 48.95 ng\/mL) which dropped drastically after the administration of 1\u03b1,25(OH)2D3 (1.84 \u00b1 0.77 pg\/mL and 2.65 \u00b1 0.92 ng\/mL, respectively). Taken together, these findings suggest that an administration of 1\u03b1,25(OH)2D3 might be helpful for treating male patients with an acute COVID-19 infection. Further studies on rapid correction of vitamin D deficiency with fast acting metabolites are warranted in COVID-19 patients.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/nu13113932","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,3]],"date-time":"2021-11-03T21:57:49Z","timestamp":1635976669000},"page":"3932","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":29,"title":["Vitamin D Serum Levels in Subjects Tested for SARS-CoV-2: What Are the Differences among Acute, Healed, and Negative COVID-19 Patients? A Multicenter Real-Practice Study"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"13","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0858-7902","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Luca","family":"Gallelli","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Science, School of Medicine, University of Catanzaro, Operative Unit of Clinical Pharmacology, Mater Domini University Hospital, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6341-4572","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gaia Chiara","family":"Mannino","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Filippo","family":"Luciani","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Infectious Diseases Unit of Annunziata Hospital, 87100 Cosenza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-5541-8346","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Alessandro","family":"de Sire","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Catanzaro \u201cMagna Graecia\u201d, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0562-9196","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Elettra","family":"Mancuso","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pietro","family":"Gangemi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Operative Unit of Clinical Chemistry Laboratory, Pugliese Ciaccio Hospital, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lucio","family":"Cosco","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Infectious Disease, Pugliese Ciaccio Hospital, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0647-5846","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Giuseppe","family":"Monea","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Carolina","family":"Averta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Pasquale","family":"Minchella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Virology, Pugliese Ciaccio Hospital, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Manuela","family":"Colosimo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Microbiology and Virology, Pugliese Ciaccio Hospital, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Lucia","family":"Muraca","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of General Medicine, ASP 7, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Federico","family":"Longhini","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anesthesiology and Reanimation, Pugliese Ciaccio Hospital, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2828-2455","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Antonio","family":"Ammendolia","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Unit, Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University of Catanzaro \u201cMagna Graecia\u201d, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-9375-1513","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Francesco","family":"Andreozzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Medical and Surgical Sciences, University Magna Graecia of Catanzaro, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Giovambattista","family":"De Sarro","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Health Science, School of Medicine, University of Catanzaro, Operative Unit of Clinical Pharmacology, Mater Domini University Hospital, 88100 Catanzaro, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"name":"G&amp;P Working Group","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0562-0597","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Erika","family":"Cione","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacy, Health and Nutritional Sciences, Department of Excellence 2018\u20132022, University of Calabria, 87036 Cosenza, Italy"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,3]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"117","article-title":"Lungs as target of COVID-19 infection: Protective common molecular mechanisms of vitamin D and melatonin as a new potential synergistic treatment","volume":"254","author":"Inserra","year":"2020","journal-title":"Life Sci."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3425","DOI":"10.2147\/DDDT.S207720","article-title":"Escin: A review of its anti-edematous, anti-inflammatory, and venotonic 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