IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v16y2025i1d10.1038_s41467-025-64192-6.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Monitoring changes in vitamin D levels during the COVID-19 pandemic with routinely-collected laboratory data

Author

Listed:
  • Lea Skapetze

    (LMU Munich
    Health Data Technologies GmbH)

  • Daniela Koller

    (LMU Munich)

  • Andreas Zwergal

    (LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich
    LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich)

  • Stefan Feuerriegel

    (LMU Munich
    Munich Center for Machine Learning)

  • Anna Rubinski

    (Health Data Technologies GmbH)

  • Eva Grill

    (LMU Munich
    LMU University Hospital, LMU Munich)

Abstract

Vitamin D is critical for bone health and immune function, but the COVID-19 pandemic, characterized by lockdowns and reduced outdoor activity, raised concerns about potential declines in vitamin D levels due to dietary changes and limited sunlight exposure. In this study, we analyzed routinely-collected laboratory data (N = 292,187 patients) from a large laboratory chain in Bavaria, Germany, to assess changes in vitamin D levels before (March 2018 to February 2020) and during (March 2020 to February 2022) the pandemic. Different statistical approaches (i.e., descriptive statistics, propensity score matching, and a causal forest) were used to evaluate confounder-adjusted changes in vitamin D levels and deficiency rates. Mean vitamin D levels decreased significantly from 26.7 μg/l pre-pandemic to 26.0 μg/l during the pandemic (p-value

Suggested Citation

  • Lea Skapetze & Daniela Koller & Andreas Zwergal & Stefan Feuerriegel & Anna Rubinski & Eva Grill, 2025. "Monitoring changes in vitamin D levels during the COVID-19 pandemic with routinely-collected laboratory data," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 16(1), pages 1-12, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64192-6
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-64192-6
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-64192-6
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-025-64192-6?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:16:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-025-64192-6. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.