A new study, supported by Kappa Bioscience, confirms that vitamin K status is lower in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 and finds low vitamin K status to be predictive of higher mortality.
Initial data has shown a significant correlation between serum K2 status and the severity of COVID-19. Leading a team from the Bispebjerg and Frederiksberg Hospital (Denmark), in collaboration with the K2 MK-7 ingredients producer Kappa Bioscience, to investigate the hypothesis that low vitamin K status could be a common characteristic of hospitalized COVID-19 patients, and discover whether low vitamin K status may predict mortality in those patients.
Vitamin K2 status (measured as dephosphorylated-undercarboxylated matrix Gla protein – dp-ucMGP) was analyzed in 138 COVID-19 patients, and compared to a control group of 138 persons from the general population, matched for similar age distribution.
Results indicated that vitamin K2 status was significantly lower COVID-19 patients, compared to the control population.
Forty three of the hospitalized patients with COVID-19 died within 90 days from admission. Survival analysis showed that low vitamin K2 status was associated with a higher mortality risk.
A Kaplan-Meier plot of the cumulated risk of death stratified by dp-ucMGP levels was created and the results suggested mortality among COVID-19 patients is strongly dependent on vitamin K2 status.
“Although this association was partly explained by increasing co-morbidity with decreasing vitamin K status, these findings suggest that vitamin K could play a role in the disease mechanisms in COVID-19,” the authors note.
In addition, this may increase calcification and subsequent degradation of elastic fibres in lung tissue, leading to more severe lung damage in COVID-19 patients.”
Because of their structural differences, vitamin K1 and K2 have different outcomes in the body. Vitamin K1 is preferentially absorbed in the liver, whereas K2 is left available for extrahepatic tissues.
The researchers note the observational study design did not allow them to draw definite conclusions regarding causality. Randomized trials are needed to document the potential beneficial effects of vitamin K supplementation on the course of COVID-19 disease.
They also note that high levels of dp-ucMGP have been associated with other conditions, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes, which are also associated with poor outcomes of COVID-19, and could act as confounders. What’s more, low kidney function (eGFR) was associated with low vitamin K status (high dp-ucMGP) in this patient population and adjustment for renal function did cause attenuation of the association between vitamin K status and mortality. This may suggest that impaired kidney function is involved in the disease mechanisms linking vitamin K to poor outcome of COVID-19 or low vitamin K status and COVID-19 association could be explained by impaired kidney function.
As such, Professor Linneberg says randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled clinical trials are now needed to document potential beneficial effects of vitamin K2 supplementation on the course of COVID-19.
Source: https://www.nutraingredients.com/Article/2021/06/17/Study-finds-low-vitamin-K-status-predictive-of-COVID-19-mortalit
