Vitamin D Deficiency - a Potential Risk Factor for Sepsis Development, Correlation with Inflammatory Markers, SOFA Score and Higher Early Mortality Risk in Sepsis

Objectives: Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction generated due to the dysregulation of the immune response to infection. The aim of this study was to highlight the role of vitamin D in sepsis and non-infectious SIRS (systemic inflammatory response syndrome) and to find correlation of vitamin D levels with inflammatory markers, severity of the disease, and association with the 7th and 28th survival rate of patients.

Methods: We investigated 32 patients (21 men, 11 women) admitted to an intensive care unit with both SIRS and sepsis. Blood was taken within 24 hours after admission. Plasma levels of 25(OH)D, sTREM-1, CRP, presepsin and procalcitonin were investigated.

Results: Patients with sepsis had lower levels of 25(OH)D (n = 25) than SIRS patients (n = 7; p = 0.0032). Significantly lower levels of 25(OH)D were found also in patients, who did not survive the 7th  (p = 0.0076) and 28th day  (p = 0.0338) of hospital care compared to 7th, resp. 28th day survivors. We revealed a negative correlation between the levels of 25(OH)D and inflammatory markers CRP (p = 0.0003), presepsin (p = 0.0032) and sTREM-1 (p = 0.0065) in all SIRS/sepsis patients and clinical condition (SOFA score; p = 0.0385).

Conclusion: Our results showed that vitamin D deficiency predisposed to the development of sepsis, negatively correlated with CRP, presepsin, sTREM-1 and SOFA score and their levels associates with both 7th and 28th days survival of patients (Tab. 5, Ref. 64).