MONDAY, May 12 (HealthDay News) -- Individuals with chronic kidney disease and hyperparathyroidism may have a lower risk of dying or requiring dialysis if they take oral activated vitamin D, according to an article published online May 7 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Abigail B. Shoben, of Puget Sound Veteran's Affairs Medical Center in Seattle, and colleagues examined the relationship between oral calcitriol use and risk of mortality and dialysis dependence in 1,418 non-dialysis patients with stage 3 and 4 chronic kidney disease and hyperparathyroidism in a Veterans' Affairs database.
The investigators found that over a median follow-up of 1.9 years, 408 patients (29 percent) died and 217 (16 percent) started long-term dialysis. After adjustment for age, comorbidities, baseline parathyroid hormone levels, kidney function and other confounders, oral calcitriol use was associated with a 26 percent lower risk of death and a 20 percent lower risk of dialysis or death. The survival improvement associated with calcitriol remained consistent regardless of baseline parathyroid hormone levels, the report indicates.
"These data are among the first to show oral calcitriol use in relation to clinical outcomes in patients with chronic kidney disease and add to a growing body of observational data linking vitamin D use with improved survival," the authors conclude.
One study co-author has financial ties to Abbott and Shire as well as Amgen.
Abstract
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