January 19, 2021
By Jason R. Miller, DPM, FACFAS and Tymoteusz Siwy, DPM
Vitamin D plays an important role in bone healing and activating the immune response. This has obvious benefits in foot and ankle surgery as well as the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Through direct and indirect effects, lower serum vitamin D levels are associated with an increased risk of fractures and stress fractures. One can counteract this through vitamin D supplementation. Prior studies associate hypovitaminosis D with an increased risk of respiratory tract infections.
1-3 Researchers recently showed this to be true of SARS-CoV-2 infections as well. Lower vitamin D levels are associated with increased rates of infection and worse outcomes.