Patients with severe burns recover more successfully if they have higher levels of vitamin D in their bodies, a new study has found.

According to UK researchers, despite big improvements in burn care over the last decade, many patients still face a poor recovery. Complications can include infections and delayed wound healing.

They set out to investigate the role of vitamin D in burn injury recovery, by monitoring the recovery progress of patients with severe burns over a one-year period.

The researchers found that those with higher levels of vitamin D had a better prognosis overall. They experienced improved wound healing, fewer complications and less scarring.

The study also found that following a burn injury, there is a rapid loss of vitamin D, and this did not appear to be related to the severity of the burn. In other words, even a minor burn could lead to a loss of vitamin D.

The findings suggest that vitamin D supplementation immediately after a burn injury may have beneficial effects. As a result, supplementation may be a simple, yet cost-effective treatment to aid recovery.

"Major burn injury severely reduces vitamin D levels and adding this vitamin back may be a simple, safe and cost-effective way to improve outcomes for burns patients, with minimal cost.

"Low vitamin D levels were associated with worse outcomes in burn patients including life-threatening infections, mortality and delayed wound healing. It was also associated with worse scarring, but vitamin D levels are something generally overlooked by clinicians," commented Prof Janet Lord of the Institute of Inflammation & Ageing in Birmingham.

The researchers said that the effectiveness of vitamin D supplementation to improve outcomes in burn patients needs to be verified in clinical trials. In the meantime, Prof Lord and her team are now focusing on finding out why there is a rapid loss of vitamin D in patients immediately after a burn injury. They are hoping to be able to prevent this in the future.

While vitamin D has long been associated with bone and musculoskeletal health, in recent years, doctors have suggested that deficiency in the vitamin is a risk factor for a range of serious health conditions, such as cancer, heart disease and type 2 diabetes. This study is the first to investigate the role of the vitamin in burn injury recovery.

Details of these findings were presented at the annual conference of the UK Society for Endocrinology in Harrogate, England.