Reduced Mortality Rate in Chronic Kidney Disease with Vitamin D Supplementation
Treatment with activated Vitamin D in individuals with moderate to severe kidney disease reduced death by approximately one-fourth according to a new study published in the August Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients who had stage 3 or 4 CKD were given the drug calcitriol, an oral form of activated vitamin D to treat elevated levels of parathyroid hormone. The study involved 1,418 patients all with elevated parathyroid levels.
During a two year trial, mortality rates were compared for patients who were and were not taking calcitriol. After adjustment for age, kidney function, parathyroid levels, illnesses, medications the adjusted analysis showed that the overall risk of death was about 26 percent lower or those patients taking the activated form of vitamin D, calcitriol. Overall, treatment with calcitriol was associated with a 20 percent reduction in the risk of either death or dialysis. The reduction in mortality was strangely unrelated to its effect on parathyroid hormone levels.
Lately there has been a surge of information on the effects of vitamin D beyond just the well-known effects on bone health. Vitamin D deficiency, for example, has been associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, prostate cancer, diabetes, inflammation and even bipolar disease. Previous studies have suggested that treatment with intravenous vitamin D can even improve survival in patients on hemodialysis.
Criticisms of this study include the lack of data on other factors that may have affected survival in the patients on calcitriol and the study included many older white men making extrapolation to other population groups difficult to justify.
About the Author
Kathy Shattler received her Master of Science degree from Michigan State University in E. Lansing Michigan in Human Nutrition. Her twenty-two years of practice includes holding positions as a Lecturer, Chief Clinical Dietitian and Program Manager. Kathy is the Founder of Nutri-Care Consulting and is currently the Nutrition Director of www.CEU4U.COM, an online continuing education management company for Registered Dietitians and Dietetic Technicians.
