Vitamin D and Critically Ill Patients

The higher rate of vitamin D deficiency is spotted among patients being hospitalized or in critical condition. Especially, vitamin D level below normal prolongs hospital stay and increases incidence of adverse prognosis and pushing up mortality of a number of diseases. However, it is remain unclear the relationship between vitamin D levels and critically ill, especially infection or sepsis. In this study, the investigators evaluate the significance of vitamin D for diagnosis and other relevant assessments of ICU cases, including vitamin D's relevance to sepsis, as well as its value in severity and prognosis assessment, high-performance liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry was used to detect the quantification of the total 25(OH)D in serum of critically ill patients. The investigators speculate that measurement of vitamin D could be taken as an indicator for diagnosis and assessment in critically ill patients.