COVID vitamin D publications - bibliometric analysis - July 2022

---

Global research on vitamin D and coronavirus disease 2019- A bibliometric and visualized study

Medicine 2022;101:27(e29768).
Muhammad Waseem Shah, BSc (Hons), MSc (Hons)a, Tauseef Ahmad, MPhil, PhDb, Muhammad Khan, MSc, PhDc, Shafi Muhammad, bS (Hons), MPhild, Guiju Sun, MD, PhDa*

Most-Cited publicatons

Publications: Authors, types, languages, journals

Countries of co-authors

Word cloud

Background and aim: Vitamin D play a substantial role in immune function, but little is known about its prevention in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A detail bibliometric analysis of the published scientific literature indexed in Web of Science on vitamin D as a therapeutic option for the COVID-19 patients' treatment is lacking. Thus, the current study was conducted to determine the key bibliometric indices and plot the global research on vitamin D and COVID-19.

Methods: The Web of Science Core Collection database was utilized to retrieve publications on vitamin D and COVID-19. A Boolean search strategy was applied and the obtained data were exported to Microsoft Excel to generate relevant graphs. Furthermore, VOSviewer software version 1.6.17 for Windows was used to generate co-authorship countries, bibliographic coupling sources and co-occurrence keyword network visualization mapping. In addition, RStudio and Bibliometric online tool were used to generate WordCloud and thematic map, and intercountries relation map, respectively.

Results: A total of 818 publications on vitamin D and COVID-19 were included in the final analysis. These publications were cited 10,713 times, with an H-index of 50. The number of publications and citations score from 2020 to November 2021 increased from 317 (2423 citations) to 501 (8290 citations). Delanghe JR and Speeckaert MM were the most prolific authors with 13 publications each. The most productive journal was Nutrients (n = 63). The most studied research area is nutrition dietetics. The most widely used author keywords were COVID-19 (n = 444), Vitamin D (n = 312), and SARS-CoV-2 (n = 190). The National Institute of Health and US Department of Health and Human Services were the leading funding agencies. Harvard University was the most active institution with 25 publications. The United States of America was the highly contributing and influential country in terms of publications (n = 203) and total link strength (n = 185).

Conclusion: It was concluded that an increasing trend in the number of publications on vitamin D and COVID-19 has been observed. Significantly, the majority of the research has been conducted in developed countries. Most importantly, over the time, the direction of research has been changed and the recent trend topics are vitamin D deficiency, risk and infection, and vitamin D supplementation based on KeyWords Plus. The use of vitamin D supplement is one of the promising therapeutic options for COVID-19 treatment. Therefore, the current study not only highlight the global research trends but also provide standard bibliographic information for future studies.
 Download the PDF from VitaminDWiki

References

• [1] Tan W, Zhao X, Ma X, et al. A novel coronavirus genome identified in a cluster of pneumonia cases—Wuhan, China 2019-2020. China CDC Wkly. 2020;2:61-2.
• [2] Zhu N, Zhang D, Wang W, et al. A novel coronavirus from patients with pneumonia in China, 2019. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:727-33.
• [3] Ciotti M, Angeletti S, Minieri M, et al. COVID-19 outbreak: an overview. Chemotherapy. 2019;64:215-23.
• [4] Potere N, Valeriani E, Candeloro M, et al. Acute complications and mortality in hospitalized patients with coronavirus disease 2019: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Crit Care. 2020;24:389. doi:10.1186/ s13054-020-03022-1.
• [5] Huang D, Lian X, Song F, et al. Clinical features of severe patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Transl Med 2020;8:576.
• [6] Kozlov IA, Tyurin IN. Cardiovascular complications of COVID-19. Messenger Anesthesiol Resusc. 2020;17:14-22. doi:10.21292/2078-5658-2020-17-4-14-22
• [7] Terpos E, Ntanasis-Stathopoulos I, Elalamy I, et al. Hematological findings and complications of COVID-19. Am J Hematol. 2020;95:834-47.
• [8] Katz JM, Libman RB, Wang JJ, et al. Cerebrovascular complications of COVID-19. Stroke. 2020;51:e227-31.
• [9] Bridwell R, Long B, Gottlieb M. Neurologic complications of COVID-19. Am J Emerg Med. 2020;38:1549.e3-7.
• [10] Zacharias H, Dubey S, Koduri G, et al. Rheumatological complications of COVID 19. Autoimmun Rev. 2021;20:102883.
• [11] Kunutsor SK, Laukkanen JA. Renal complications in COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Ann Med. 2020;52:345-53.
• [12] Sahu KK, Kumar R. Preventive and treatment strategies of COVID-19: from community to clinical trials. J Family Med Prim Care. 2020;9:2149-2157. doi:10.4103/jfmpc.jfmpc_728_20.
• [13] Gavriatopoulou M, Korompoki E, Fotiou D, et al. Organ-specific manifestations of COVID-19 infection. Clin Exp Med. 2020;20:493-506.
• [14] Shen C, Wang Z, Zhao F, et al. Treatment of 5 critically ill patients with COVID-19 with convalescent plasma. JAMA. 2020;323:1582-9.
• [15] Joshi S, Parkar J, Ansari A, et al. Role of favipiravir in the treatment of COVID-19. Int J Infect Dis. 2021;102:501-8.
• [16] Zhang R, Wang X, Ni L, et al. COVID-19: melatonin as a potential adjuvant treatment. Life Sci. 2020;250:117583.
• [17] Ren JL, Zhang AH, Wang XJ. Traditional Chinese medicine for COVID-19 treatment [published correction appears in Pharmacol Res. 2020 Mar 25;:104768]. Pharmacol Res. 2020;155:104743.
• [18] Fidan C, Aydogdu A. As a potential treatment of COVID-19: montelu-kast. Med Hypotheses. 2020;142:109828.
• [19] Trasino SE. A role for retinoids in the treatment of COVID-19? Clin Exp Pharmacol Physiol. 2020;47:1765-7.
• [20] Zhou Q, Chen V, Shannon CP, et al. Interferon-a2b treatment for COVID-19 [published correction appears in Front Immunol. 2020 Oct 27;11:615275]. Front Immunol. 2020;11:1061. doi:10.3389/ fimmu.2020.01061.
• [21] Mitchell F. Vitamin-D and COVID-19: do deficient risk a poorer outcome? Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol. 2020;8:570.
• [22] Meltzer DO, Best TJ, Zhang H, et al. Association of vitamin D status and other clinical characteristics with COVID-19 test results. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3:e2019722. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.19722.
• [23] RANK1 Grant WB, Lahore H, McDonnell SL, et al. Evidence that vitamin D supplementation could reduce risk of influenza and COVID-19 infections and deaths. Nutrients. 2020;12:988. doi:10.3390/nu12040988.
• [24] Annweiler C, Hanotte B, Grandin de l’Eprevier C, et al. Vitamin D and survival in COVID-19 patients: a quasi-experimental study. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 2020;204:105771.
• [25] Meltzer DO, Best TJ, Zhang H, et al. Association of vitamin D deficiency and treatment with COVID-19 incidence. medRxiv. Preprint posted online May 13, 2020;2020.05.08.20095893. doi:10.1101/2020.05.08.20095893
• [26] Munshi R, Hussein MH, Toraih EA, et al. Vitamin D insufficiency as a potential culprit in critical COVID-19 patients. J Med Virol. 2021;93:733-40.
• [27] Ghasemian R, Shamshirian A, Heydari K, et al. The role of vitamin D in the age of COVID-19: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Int J Clin Pract. 2021;75:e14675.
• [28] Gutiérrez-Salcedo M, Martinez MA, Moral-Munoz JA, et al. Some bib-liometric procedures for analyzing and evaluating research fields. Appl Intell. 2018;48:1275-87.
• [29] Durieux V, Gevenois PA. bibliometric indicators: quality measurements of scientific publication. Radiology. 2010;255:342-51.
• [30] Cecez-Kecmanovic D, Kennan MA. Chapter 5. Research methods: information, systems, and contexts. Williamson K, Johanson G. (eds.). Prahran, Victoria: Tilde Publishing, 2013; pp. 113-138.
• [31] Ellegaard O, Wallin JA. The bibliometric analysis of scholarly production: How great is the impact? Scientometrics. 2015;105:1809-31.
• [32] Birkle C, Pendlebury DA, Schnell J, et al. Web of Science as a data source for research on scientific and scholarly activity. Quant Sci Stud. 2020;1:363-76.
• [33] Ahmad T, Murad MA, Nasir S, et al. Trends in hepatitis A research indexed in the web of science: a bibliometric analysis over the period from 1985 to 2019. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2021;17:3221-9.
• [34] Ahmad T, Haroon, Khan M, et al. Research trends in rabies vaccine in the last three decades: a bibliometric analysis of global perspective. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2021;17:3169-77.
• [35] Ahmad T, Hua L, Khan M, et al. Global research trends in pediatric trauma from 1968 to 2021: a bibliometric analysis. Front Pediatr. 2021;9:762531. doi:10.3389/fped.2021.762531
• [36] van Eck NJ, Waltman L. Software survey: VOSviewer, a computer program for bibliometric mapping. Scientometrics. 2010;84:523-38.
• [37] Cobo MJ, Lopez-Herrera AG, Herrera-Viedma E, et al. Science mapping software tools: review, analysis, and cooperative study among tools. J Am Soc Inf Sci Technol. 2011;62:1382-402.
• [ 38] Ross AC, Taylor CL, Yaktine AL, et al; Institute of Medicine (US) Committee to Review Dietary Reference Intakes for Vitamin D and Calcium. editors. Dietary Reference Intakes for Calcium and Vitamin D. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 2011. doi: 10.17226/13050
• [39] Science M, Maguire JL, Russell ML, et al. Low serum 25-hydroxyvita-min D level and risk of upper respiratory tract infection in children and adolescents. Clin Infect Dis. 2013;57:392-7.
• [40] Greiller CL, Martineau AR. Modulation of the immune response to respiratory viruses by vitamin D. Nutrients. 2015;7:4240-70.
• [41] Gombart AF, Borregaard N, Koeffler HP. Human cathelicidin antimicrobial peptide (CAMP) gene is a direct target of the vitamin D receptor and is strongly up-regulated in myeloid cells by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3. FASEB J. 2005;19:1067-77.
• [42] Wang TT, Dabbas B, Laperriere D, et al. Direct and indirect induction by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 of the NOD2/CARD15-defensin beta2 innate immune pathway defective in Crohn disease. J Biol Chem. 2010;285:2227-31.
• [43] Watkins J. Preventing a COVID-19 Pandemic. British Medical Journal Publishing Group; 2020.
• [44] Daneshkhah A, Agrawal V, Eshein A, et al. Evidence for possible association of vitamin D status with cytokine storm and unregulated inflammation in COVID-19 patients. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2020;32:2141-58.
• [45] De Smet D, De Smet K, Herroelen P, et al. Vitamin D deficiency as risk factor for severe COVID-19: a convergence of two pandemics [preprint]. Infect Dis (except HIV/AIDS). 2020. doi:10.1101/2020.05.01.20079376
• [46] Benskin LL. A basic review of the preliminary evidence that COVID-19 risk and severity is increased in vitamin D deficiency. Front Public Health. 2020;8:513. doi:10.3389/fpubh.2020.00513
• [ 47] Hastie CE, Mackay DF, Ho F, et al. Vitamin D concentrations and COVID-19 infection in UK Biobank [published correction appears in Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2020 Sep - Oct;14(5):1315-1316]. Diabetes Metab Syndr. 2020;14:561-5.
• [48]RANK2Ilie PC, Stefanescu S, Smith L. The role of vitamin D in the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 infection and mortality. Aging Clin Exp Res. 2020;32:1195-8.
• [49] Lau FH, Majumder R, Torabi R, et al. Vitamin D insufficiency is prevalent in severe COVID-19 [preprint]. Infect Dis (except HIV/AIDS). 2020. doi:10.1101/2020.04.24.20075838
• [50] Bergman P, Norlin AC, Hansen S, et al. Vitamin D3 supplementation in patients with frequent respiratory tract infections: a randomized and double-blind intervention study. BMJ Open. 2012;2:e001663. doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2012-001663
• [51] Hicks D, Melkers J. bibliometrics as a tool for research evaluation. In: Link AN, Vonortas NS, (eds.). Handbook on the Theory and Practice of Program Evaluation, chapter 11. pp. 323-349. Edward Elgar Publishing. 2013.
• [52] Ahmad T, Murad MA, Baig M, et al. Research trends in COVID-19 vaccine: a bibliometric analysis. Hum Vaccin Immunother. 2021;17:2367-72.
• [53] Shi J, Gao Y, Ming L, et al. A bibliometric analysis of global research output on network meta-analysis. BMC Med Inform Decis Mak. 2021;21:144.
• [ 54] Zhang W, Tang N, Li X, et al. The top 100 most cited articles on total hip arthroplasty: a bibliometric analysis. J Orthop Surg Res. 2019;14:412. doi:10.1186/s13018-019-1476-3.
• [55] Nasir S, Ahmed J, Asrar M, et al. A bibliometric analysis of pharmacy/ pharmacology research in Pakistan. Int J Pharmacol. 2015;11:766-72. doi:10.3923/IJP.2015.766.772
• [56] Maeda K, Rahman M, Fukui T. Japan’s contribution to clinical research in gastroenterology and hepatology. J Gastroenterol. 2003;38:816-9.
• [57] Glaser J, Velarde KS. Changing funding arrangements and the production of scientific knowledge: introduction to the special issue. Minerva. 2018;56:1-10. doi:10.1007/s11024-018-9344-6.
• [58] Nafade V, Nash M, Huddart S, et al. A bibliometric analysis of tuberculosis research, 2007-2016. PLoS One. 2018;13:e0199706. doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0199706.
• [59] Shah SM, Ahmad T, Chen S, et al. A bibliometric analysis of the one hundred most cited studies in psychosomatic research. Psychother Psychosom. 2021;90:425-30.
• [60] Moed HF. New developments in the use of citation analysis in research evaluation. Arch Immunol Ther Exp (Warsz). 2009;57:13-8.

---

VitaminDWiki – COVID-19 treated by Vitamin D - studies, reports, videos

As of March 31, 2024, the VitaminDWiki COVID page had:  trial results,   meta-analyses and reviews,   Mortality studies   see related:   Governments,   HealthProblems,   Hospitals,  Dark Skins,   All 26 COVID risk factors are associated with low Vit D,   Fight COVID-19 with 50K Vit D weekly   Vaccines   Take lots of Vitamin D at first signs of COVID   166 COVID Clinical Trials using Vitamin D (Aug 2023)   Prevent a COVID death: 9 dollars of Vitamin D or 900,000 dollars of vaccine - Aug 2023
5 most-recently changed Virus entries

---

Mortality and Virus 59 studies

This list is automatically updated

---

Vitamin D meta-analyses of Virus 44 studies

This list is automatically updated