association between low serum vitamin d levels and sepsis: a single-center study in tehran, iran

Background: vitamin d insufficiency is common in critically ill patients. it is hypothesized that vitamin d deficiency would be associated with sepsis in the critically ill. thus, the present study aimed to investigate the association between vitamin d and sepsis severity. method: in this cross-sectional study, patients with sepsis referring to a university hospital in tehran, iran, from february 2018 to march 2019 were included. plasma concentrations of vitamin d in critically ill subjects admitted were assessed. data were analyzed using spss version 20.0. p-values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. results: among the investigated patients, the mean serum level of vitamin d3 was 19.03 ± 13.08 ng/ml. the prevalence of vitamin d insufficiency in critically ill subjects with sepsis was 100% (150/150). only sex (p = 0.01) indicated a significant association with vitamin d. patients suffering from severe sepsis had lower levels of vitamin d compared to the patients with non-severe sepsis (p = 0.07). conclusions: the present study showed that all critically ill patients studied had vitamin d insufficiency. in line with the biological evidence, the present study suggests that vitamin d deficiency may predispose patients to sepsis. further studies are needed to establish the causes and mechanisms underlying these interpretations.