Low Vitamin D Linked With Lower Kidney Function After Transplantation

29 Mar 2013 --- Vitamin D deficiency may decrease kidney function in transplant recipients, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). The finding suggests that vitamin D supplementation may help improve the health of kidney transplant recipients.

Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in patients with kidney failure. It's not clear how this affects patients after they receive a kidney transplant. To investigate, Frank Bienaimé, MD (Université Paris Descartes and INSERM and Assistance Publique Hopitaux de Paris) and his colleagues studied a group of 634 kidney recipients who underwent transplantation between January 2005 and June 2010.

The researchers found that low vitamin D levels measured at three months after transplantation were linked with lower kidney function and increased kidney scarring at 12 months post-transplant. Other hormones involved with mineral metabolism were not predictors of kidney function or scarring after one year.

"This result suggests that maintaining vitamin D concentration within the normal range would prevent renal function deterioration after renal transplantation," said Dr. Bienaimé. "Vitamin D supplementation, a simple and inexpensive treatment, may improve transplantation outcomes." He encouraged the design of randomized controlled trials to evaluate the potential of vitamin D supplements to maintain kidney function following transplantation.

Study co-authors include Delphine Girard, MD, Dany Anglicheau, MD, PhD, Guillaume Canaud, MD, PhD, Jean Claude Souberbielle, DPharm, Henri Kreiss, MD, Laure Hélène Noël, MD, Gérard Friedlander, MD, PhD, Caroline Elie, MD, PhD, Christophe Legendre, MD, and Dominique Prié, MD, PhD.