Vitamin D could reduce the neurological symptoms of long-COVID

In the medical field, there are several names to define long-COVID: post-COVID-19 syndrome, chronic COVID-19, prolonged COVID-19, long-COVID-19 and persistent COVID-19 symptoms. This disease is characterized by having symptoms characterized by being cyclical, progressive or multiphasic in nature and that persist up to 2 or 4 months after the infection has started according to the World Health Organization. A primary definition for this disease was introduced by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in which it is mentioned that long-COVID is characterized by symptoms that persist more than three months after infection. appearance of the first symptoms of COVID-19. In another study it was stipulated that the duration of symptoms should be greater than 6 months. However, a consensus is currently necessary to agree on the definition of persistent COVID-19 and the diagnostic process due to the variability in the occurrence and timing of persistent symptoms.

It has been shown that SARS-CoV-2 is a virus that disrupts the blood-brain barrier, initiating an inflammatory process, the presence of oxidant stress, hypercoagulation, thrombosis and changes in the autoimmune response that are considered the main events that lead to neurological symptoms. These symptoms affect more than a third of patients and include fatigue, changes in the sense of smell and taste, brain fog (short-term memory loss and inability to concentrate), headache, cognitive disorders, sleep disorders, sensory deficits and neuropsychiatric manifestations such as depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress. On the other hand, some risk factors have been associated with the presence of long-COVID, such as advanced age (>65 years), being a woman, and the presence of several chronic diseases.

Vitamin D is a hormone that regulates calcium concentration, modulates inflammation and is known as an antioxidant. It has been observed that vitamin D deficiency in patients infected with COVID-19 is associated with damage to the immune and respiratory systems, causing greater severity of this disease. The beneficial effects of the use of vitamin D have been observed in patients infected with moderate or severe COVID-19, reducing mortality and severity of the disease, length of stay in intensive care, days of hospitalization and inflammation in the organism. Due to the above, vitamin D is an adjuvant to prevent the development of COVID-19 into a severe or prolonged illness, and it has been shown to reduce the presence of neurological sequelae. Because it is not an expensive dietary supplement, it could be incorporated into the daily diet.

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