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Factors associated with Covid-19 deaths in records of 17M adult NHS patients

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Re: Factors associated with Covid-19 deaths in records of 17M adult NHS patients

#171

Post by roenxi »

lrpublic wrote: post #130
martingoodson wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In case you weren't aware, controlled trials have shown that vitamin d supplementation protects against respiratory disease [1]. This is evidence that the association you highlight is more than a spurious correlation. It's likely to be causal. [1] https://www.bmj.com/content/356/bmj.i6583

Updated NHS advice on vitamin D from [1] “ Coronavirus update Consider taking 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day to keep your bones and muscles healthy. This is because you may not be getting enough vitamin D from sunlight if you’re indoors most of the day. There have been some news reports about vitamin D reducing the risk of coronavirus. However, there is no evidence that this is the case.” [1] https://www.nhs.uk/con…

NHS may say 'no evidence' - but it seems likely what they mean is that nobody has done a vitamin D-coronavirus trial. So it isn't that there is no evidence but rather the evidence is not overwhelming.

"No evidence" makes it sound like there is actually no evidence. There is evidence - it just got linked in the two comments that make up the root of this thread.

Re: Factors associated with Covid-19 deaths in records of 17M adult NHS patients

#172

Post by notRobot »

chiefalchemist wrote: post #133
chiefalchemist wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasn't familiar and looked him up. This might save others the effort. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=Ben+Goldacre+of+Bad+Science&t=fpas...

Down voted for helping others. HN...you've lost your mind. Your sense of community is an embarrassment.

A copy-paste of the bio from Wikipedia would be more helpful than a DDG search link.

Re: Factors associated with Covid-19 deaths in records of 17M adult NHS patients

#173

Post by vikramkr »

rjsw wrote: post #80
tom_mellior wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The thread is good, but a possible link with nicotine has been observed before. This might just be the unlikely case where smoking does indirectly confer some health benefit.

Nicotine must have some evolutionary benefit to the tobacco plant, perhaps it helps it resist the Tobacco mosaic virus.

It's a great insecticide. Same as caffeine.

Re: Factors associated with Covid-19 deaths in records of 17M adult NHS patients

#174

Post by iddiid »

elliekelly wrote: post #39
loeg wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems pretty remarkable that men have a hazard factor 2x that of women as well.

There was a post on HN a few days ago about a study that found low testosterone levels were correlated with worse Covid-19 outcomes. I think vitamin D is technically a hormone (or maybe is hormone-like?) so I wonder if it’s absorbed differently by men than women. Or maybe low testosterone is just a side effect of a vitamin D deficiency in men.

I think that low testosterone levels is correlated with being older which is correlated with worse Covid-19 outcomes, so age is the important factor here.

Re: Factors associated with Covid-19 deaths in records of 17M adult NHS patients

#175

Post by mistermann »

roenxi wrote: post #171
lrpublic wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Updated NHS advice on vitamin D from [1] “ Coronavirus update Consider taking 10 micrograms of vitamin D a day to keep your bones and muscles healthy. This is because you may not be getting enough vitamin D from sunlight if you’re indoors most of the day. There have been some news reports about vitamin D reducing the risk of coronavirus. However, there is no evidence that this is the case.” [1] https://www.nhs.uk/con…

NHS may say 'no evidence' - but it seems likely what they mean is that nobody has done a vitamin D-coronavirus trial. So it isn't that there is no evidence but rather the evidence is not overwhelming. "No evidence" makes it sound like there is actually no evidence. There is evidence - it just got linked in the two comments that make up the root of this thread.

A good example of why trust the science (among other things) with no knowledge of epistemology is dangerous.

Re: Factors associated with Covid-19 deaths in records of 17M adult NHS patients

#176

Post by iddiid »

mindviews wrote: post #26

Here's a link to the paper: https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.05.06.20092999v... This is interesting data. I want to see Vitamin D status included in a large population study like this because I've been following two smaller studies covering about a thousand cases total that shows Vitamin D deficiency has a risk ratio of 10 to 20 (more even than being age 80+ in the above study). The studies: [1] https://p…

Since aging reduces vitamin D production in skin, we have that vitamin D level is correlated with age that is correlated with worse response to COVID-19.

Aging reduces vitamin D production in skin. There is a decrease in the concentration of 7-dehydrocholesterol in the epidermis in old compared with young individuals and a reduced response to UV light, resulting in a 50% decrease in the formation of previtamin D3

Re: Factors associated with Covid-19 deaths in records of 17M adult NHS patients

#177

Post by z3t4 »

jansan wrote: post #98
z3t4 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Overdosing D can be dangerous as it takes a long time to leave your body.

Then do not overdose. Tell people to take 1000IE per day, not more. This will have no negative impact on the health or economy, but if we are lucky, it will help reduce the impact of COVID-19. Shutting down the economy is clearly dangerous, yet enough people do not seem to have a problem with that.

Vitamin D pills is just a quick fix. Moderate exercise and fresh air would probably save more lives. Healthy vitamin levels are good, but its many little things which affects health.

Re: Factors associated with Covid-19 deaths in records of 17M adult NHS patients

#178

Post by himinlomax »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #139
rjsw wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nicotine must have some evolutionary benefit to the tobacco plant, perhaps it helps it resist the Tobacco mosaic virus.

Nicotine is an extremely powerful insecticide. That's the advantage to the plant.

Why not both?

Re: Factors associated with Covid-19 deaths in records of 17M adult NHS patients

#179

Post by easytiger »

lettergram wrote: post #19

I think one of the key takeaways is in the abstract: > People from Asian and black groups are at markedly increased risk of in-hospital death from COVID-19, and contrary to some prior speculation is only partially attributable to pre-existing clinical risk factors or deprivation

The UK BAME population is largely located in a couple of Large more densely populated cities. Whereas the country as a whole is around 87% white, London has areas with Surely the geographical relationship between dense cities and their inhabitants demographics is more than enough to explain it.

[1] https://www.newham.info/population/

Re: Factors associated with Covid-19 deaths in records of 17M adult NHS patients

#180

Post by whiddershins »

AQuantized wrote: post #167
elorant wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But what about Spain? A Mediterranean country with lots and lots of sunshine.

Sunnier countries can still have large vitamin D deficient populations. I read a study regarding the correlation between mental illness and vitamin D deficiency a few years ago, and Italian patients were still often very deficient. If people don't go out in the sun enough, or wear too much sun cream, it doesn't matter how sunny it is.

Also worth noting that Europe in general is really far north compared to the US. Spain is on the same latitude more or less as NYC.
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