Assessment of 28-day survival of patients with sepsis based on vitamin D status: a hospital-based prospective cohort study in Indonesia

INTRODUCTION: sepsis is a potentially life-threatening condition caused by the body´s response to an infection. Recent studies have demonstrated a correlation between low vitamin D status and high mortality in septic patients. This study aims to evaluate the vitamin D status of septic patients at Dr. Sardjito Hospital and describe 28-day survival with very low vitamin D levels (< 8.1 ng/mL). METHODS: this prospective cohort study was conducted in the intensive care unit and internal medicine ward at Dr. Sardjito Hospital in septic patients admitted between December 2018 and October 2019. Vitamin D [25(OH)D] was prospectively measured within 24 hours of admission. Data collection used SPSS software for statistical analysis. In addition, the sample size was calculated using the sample size formula used in a comparative survival study intended to find the incidence rate in septic patients. The minimum sample for each group is 23 samples. RESULTS: sepsis-related mortality was higher in patients with low vitamin D. The analysis included 88 septic patients during the study period. The mean age was 56.09 ± 16.82 years and the proportion of males was 46.6%. 26 of 28 patients with vitamin D levels < 8.1 ng/mL died (92.6%), whereas 39 of 60 patients with vitamin D levels ≥ 8.1 ng/mL (65%) died. Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that vitamin D concentrations < 8.1 ng/mL at admission (p=0.01) and sepsis shock (p=0.02) were associated with increased sepsis mortality. The hazard ratio of 28-day mortality was 1.95 (95% CI 1.15-3.29, p=0.01) for vitamin D levels < 8.1 ng/mL. The average survival was 9 days for patients with vitamin D levels < 8.1 ng/mL (median: 6 days) compared with 14 days for those with vitamin D levels ≥ 8.1 ng/mL (median: 10 days). CONCLUSION: low serum vitamin D levels (< 8.1ng/mL) at admission were associated with increased 28-day mortality in septic patients.