Effect of vitamin D supplementation on procalcitonin as prognostic biomarker in patients with ventilator associated pneumonia complicated with vitamin D deficiency

Ventilator-associated pneumonia (vap) is a common and serious problem that develops after more than 48 h of mechanical ventilation. improving the activity of immune system with vitamin d,and its consequent impact on prognostic biomarkers of vap was studied in the current study. a randomized double blind placebo controlled clinical trial was designed. a total of 46 patients with vap,who were suffering from vitamin d deficiency,were randomly allocated into the study groups of placebo (n=22) and treatment (n=24) the treatment group received 300,000 units of intramuscular vitamin d. serum levels of procalcitonin and vitamin d along with sofa and cpis scores were determined at baseline and on day 7 after intervention. the mortality rate of patients was also monitored for the succeeding 28 days after the injection. the administration of vitamin d significantly enhanced its levels (p<0.0001) in the treated patients (12.28 ± 8.26) in comparison to placebo group (1.15 ± 1.50). the levels of pct were significantly decreased (p=0.001) in the treatment group (– 0.02 ± 0.59 ng/ml) compared to that of placebo group (0.68 ± 1.03 ng/ml). however,changes in (sofa) and cpis scores were not significantly different between study groups (p=0.63 and p=0.32,respectively). interestingly,the mortality rate of patients in the treatment group (5/24) was significantly lower (p=0.04) than that of the placebo group (11/22). in conclusion,our results indicate that vitamin d supplementation can significantly reduce the procalcitonin in (vap) patients,and must be considered as a preventive and/or therapeutic strategy. © 2017 by school of pharmacy shaheed beheshti university of medical sciences and health services.