An insight into the impact of vitamin D on cardiovascular outcomes in CKD

Journal article

Patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) experience excess cardiovascular morbidity and mortality that is unexplained by traditional cardiovascular risk factors. Vitamin D deficiency is highly prevalent in CKD and is associated with increased cardiovascular mortality in both the general population and in CKD patients. Vitamin D supplementation is a reasonably safe and simple intervention and meta‐analyses of observational studies have suggested that vitamin D supplementation in CKD improves cardiovascular mortality. However, randomised controlled trials (RCTs) examining the impact of vitamin D supplementation in improving surrogate markers of cardiovascular structure and function remain inconclusive. This review investigates the impact of vitamin D supplementation on surrogate end‐points and cardiovascular events from trials in CKD; and discusses why results have been heterogenous, particularly critiquing the effect of different dosing regimens and the failure to take into account the implications of vitamin D supplementation in study participants with differing vitamin D binding protein genotypes.

Authors: Junarta, J; Jha, V; Banerjee, D

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Nephrology
• Volume: 24
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 781-790
• Publication date: 2019-01-26
• Acceptance date: 2019-01-21
• DOI: 10.1111/nep.13569
• EISSN: 1440-1797
• ISSN: 1320-5358