Researchers used National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data from 2016 to 2017 to examine if there was a correlation between vitamin D deficiency and in-hospital mortality or length of stay among adult patients hospitalized with acute HF. The researchers conducted bivariate analyses, such as chi-square and Fisher's exact test with categorical variables and mean and median test for length of stay, to ascertain group differences among patients with acute HF. They also accounted for comorbidities using the Charlson comorbidity index.
Overall, the researchers noted that of the 177,811 acute HF discharges, 3,542 patients had vitamin D deficiency. The results demonstrated that vitamin D deficiency status was linked to a 31.5% lower risk for in-hospital mortality compared with non–vitamin D deficiency status (adjusted OR = 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54- 0.87). However, the researchers reported a statistically significant increase in length of stay (beta = 0.95; 95% CI, 0.06-0.13) in patients with vitamin D deficiency compared with those without.
Dr. Adhikari stated, "Despite the limitation of our retrospective database based solely on the days of the diagnosis, we hypothesized the possibility that most patients labeled as [vitamin D deficiency] on the days of the diagnosis most likely were taking vitamin D supplements, which might have accounted for the protective effect on the in-hospital mortality."
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