Enhanced vitamin K expenditure as a major contributor to vitamin K deficiency in COVID-19

Objectives: Vitamin K deficiency consistently associates with worse clinical outcome in COVID-19 patients. However, whether this is due to increased expenditure during inflammation or poor vitamin K status prior to infection remained unknown. Methods: Dp-ucMGP levels of 128 individuals were measured for the post-MONICA study and were compared to SARS-CoV-2 PCR testing results. Results: Dp-ucMGP levels prior to COVID-19 infection were not significantly different comparing PCRnegative, PCR-positive and not hospitalized, and PCR-positive and hospitalized patients. Conclusion: In this study, we demonstrate normal vitamin K status prior to infection in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients, supporting the theory of increased utilisation during disease. (c) 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Automated summary

This study demonstrates normal vitamin K status prior to infection in SARS-CoV-2 positive patients, supporting the theory of increased utilisation during disease.