4.1. Principal Findings
inner-city
The insurance claims data of subjects randomized to the vitamin D3 intervention arm and of those subjects randomized to the passive control group in a pragmatic randomized clinical trial was examined for healthcare costs and healthcare utilization. Six healthcare cost parameters and fifteen healthcare utilization parameters were evaluated. In the vitamin D3 intervention group, there were non-statistically significant decreases in: total billed charges for any reason; cost of hospitalization due to COVID-19; and cost of ICU admissions due to COVID-19. Utilization claims data indicated four areas in which the intervention group showed statistically significant decreases in healthcare utilization: number of hospitalizations for any reason; number of ICU admissions for any reason; number of emergency room visits for any reason; and number of hospitalizations due to COVID-19.The healthcare utilization results of this study that took place in an east coast inner-city university hospital in the United States concur with the studies that were performed in Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Centers in Northeastern Tennessee, VA Medical Centers in the Southeastern US, two US community hospitals, and two independent population studies in Germany [