Vitamin D and COVID-19 in pregnant women

Belokrinitskaya T.E., Malko D.V., Mudrov V.A., Shametova E.A.

Chita State Medical Academy, Ministry of Health of Russia, Chita, Russia

The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic has shown that pregnant women are at high risk of severe disease and mortality due to physiological changes in the body aimed at maintaining pregnancy. According to WHO experts, the risk of new epidemic outbreaks in the world remains; at the same time, the number of indications for vaccination of the population has reduced. Therefore, it is necessary to search for additional methods of anti-infective protection. It is believed that vitamin D deficiency, which often occurs during pregnancy, also leads to increased susceptibility to the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
Objective: To analyze the sources of modern literature on the effect of vitamin D on the course of COVID-19 in pregnant women.
Materials and methods: The databases and services, namely PubMed, PubMed Central, Scopus, MEDLINE, ScienceDirect, Cochrane Library, eLibrary, have been searched for publications of the Russian and foreign authors for the period from 2015 to the present.
Results: During epidemics and pandemics, it is advisable to control and/or correct the level of vitamin D in the patients in the preconception period (especially in the risk group), as this vitamin plays a significant role starting from the moment of conception to delivery. Vitamin D deficiency in mothers causes a high risk of COVID-19 infection as well as its severe course which often leads to adverse obstetric and perinatal outcomes.
Conclusion: It is reasonable to maintain optimal level of vitamin D during the whole pregnancy in order to reduce the likelihood of COVID-19 disease, the development of obstetric and infectious complications.

Authors’ contributions: Belokrinitskaya T.E. – developing the concept and design of the study; Malko D.V., Mudrov V.A., Shametova E.A. – searching and processing literature sources; Malko D.V., Shametova E.A. – writing the text; Belokrinitskaya T.E., Mudrov V.A. – editing the text.
Conflicts of interest: Authors declare lack of the possible conflicts of interests.
Funding: The study was conducted without sponsorship.
For citation: Belokrinitskaya T.E., Malko D.V., Mudrov V.A., Shametova E.A. 
Vitamin D and COVID-19 in pregnant women. 
Akusherstvo i Ginekologiya/Obstetrics and Gynecology. 2023; (12): 25-31 (in Russian)
https://dx.doi.org/10.18565/aig.2023.214

Keywords

COVID-19
vitamin D
pregnant women

References

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Received 05.09.2023

Accepted 24.10.2023

About the Authors

Tatiana E. Belokrinitskaya, Dr. Med. Sci., Professor, Head of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department of the Pediatric Faculty and Faculty of Professional Retraining, Chita State Medical Academy, Ministry of Health of Russia, +7(3022)32-30-58, tanbell24@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5447-4223, 672000, Russia, Chita, Gorky str., 39a.
Dmitry V. Malko, Resident of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Pediatric Faculty and Faculty of Professional Retraining, Chita State Medical Academy, Ministry of Health of Russia, d_b_d_bmalko03rus2000@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4629-0548, 672000, Russia, Chita, Gorky str., 39а.
Viktor A. Mudrov, Dr. Med. Sci., Associate Professor at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Pediatric Faculty and Faculty of Professional Retraining,
Chita State Medical Academy, Ministry of Health of Russia, mudrov_viktor@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5961-5400, 672000, Russia, Chita, Gorky str., 39a.
Evgeniya A. Shametova, Teaching Assistant at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Pediatric Faculty and Faculty of Professional Retraining, Chita State Medical Academy, Ministry of Health of Russia, solnce181190@mail.ru, https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2205-2384, 672000, Russia, Chita, Gorky str., 39а.
Corresponding author: Tatiana E. Belokrinitskaya, tanbell24@mail.ru

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