COVID-19 and micronutrient deficiency symptoms – is there some overlap?

BACKGROUND & AIMS: COVID-19 is highly inflammatory and when it affects the elderly who have multiple comorbidities, the risk of malnutrition is high. The aim of this review is to highlight the evidence for COVID-19 and risk for malnutrition (macro- and micro-nutrient deficiency) sharing two case reports. METHODS: We report two cases of patients with COVID-19. The first case includes a 75-year-old male with increasing confusion, delirium and malnutrition once he had clinically resolved from his COVID-19 diagnosis. The patient had a number of comorbidities and was treated with diuretics before and after his hospital admission. He was treated with intravenous thiamine and enteral nutrition. The second case includes a 77-year-old male with diabetes who presented with suspected vitamin C deficiency likely due to chronic aspirin use nearly two weeks prior to being diagnosed with pneumonia and COVID-19. The patient recovered from his COVID-19 diagnosis but continued to decline nutritionally and was readmitted sixty days later with failure to thrive. RESULTS: The first case had significant improvements in his appetite and neurological conditions following thiamine infusion and enteral nutrition and was discharged to home after a 19-day hospital stay. The second case presented with a vitamin C deficiency before testing positive for COVID-19. Although he did recover from COVID-19 he struggled to meet nutritional needs post-COVID and passed away 60 days after his COVID-19 diagnosis with pneumonia and failure to thrive. CONCLUSION: Elderly patients with chronic diseases who use nutrient depleting medications are particularly high risk for micronutrient deficiency when they also experience the inflammatory insult of COVID-19. Patients who continue to have poor nutrition intake even after they appear to be clinically resolved from the virus should be closely monitored.