Association of low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and sepsis in the critically ill

Crit Care Med. 2014 Jan;42(1):97-107. doi: 10.1097/CCM.0b013e31829eb7af.

Abstract

Objective: We hypothesized that deficiency in 25-hydroxyvitamin D prior to hospital admission would be associated with sepsis in the critically ill.

Design: Two-center observational study of patients treated in medical and surgical ICUs.

Setting: Two hundred nine medical and surgical intensive care beds in two teaching hospitals in Boston, MA.

Patients: Three thousand three hundred eighty-six patients, 18 years old or older, in whom 25-hydroxyvitamin D was measured prior to hospitalization between 1998 and 2011.

Interventions: None.

Measurements and main results: : Preadmission 25-hydroxyvitamin D was categorized as deficiency in 25-hydroxyvitamin D (≤ 15 ng/mL), insufficiency (15-30 ng/mL), and sufficiency (≥ 30 ng/mL). The primary outcome was sepsis as defined by International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition, Clinical Modification and validated by the 2001 Society of Critical Care Medicine/European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, American College of Chest Physicians, American Thoracic Society, and Surgical Infection Society international sepsis definitions conference guidelines. Logistic regression examined the presence of sepsis 3 days prior to critical care initiation to 7 days after critical care initiation. Adjusted odds ratios were estimated by multivariable logistic regression models. Preadmission 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency is predictive for the risk of sepsis. In the full cohort, 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency is a significant predictor for the risk of International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition, Clinical Modification-defined sepsis following multivariable adjustment, including age, gender, race, type (surgical vs medical), and Deyo-Charlson index (adjusted odds ratio, 1.51 [95% CI, 1.17-1.94]; p = 0.001) relative to patients with 25-hydroxyvitamin D sufficiency. In a subset of cohort patients enriched for those with International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition, Clinical Modification-diagnosed sepsis (n = 444), preadmission 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency is a significant predictor for the risk of conference guideline-defined sepsis following multivariable adjustment, including age, gender, race, type (surgical vs medical), and Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation II (adjusted odds ratio, 2.05 [95% CI, 1.19-3.52]; p = 0.009) relative to patients with 25-hydroxyvitamin D sufficiency. Furthermore, in cohort patients with International Classification of Diseases, 9th Edition, Clinical Modification-defined sepsis (n = 568), the multivariable adjusted risk of 90-day mortality was 1.6-fold higher in those with preadmission 25-hydroxyvitamin D values in the insufficient and deficient range, compared with those with preadmission vitamin D sufficiency (adjusted odds ratio, 1.63 [95% CI, 1.11-2.39]; p = 0.01).

Conclusion: 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency prior to hospital admission is a significant predictor of sepsis in the critically ill. Additionally, patients with sepsis who are not vitamin D sufficient have an increased risk of mortality following critical care initiation.

Publication types

  • Observational Study

MeSH terms

  • Aged
  • Critical Illness*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Intensive Care Units / statistics & numerical data
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Risk Factors
  • Sepsis / blood*
  • Sepsis / etiology
  • Vitamin D / analogs & derivatives*
  • Vitamin D / blood
  • Vitamin D Deficiency / complications

Substances

  • Vitamin D
  • 25-hydroxyvitamin D