Low Vitamin D and CKD link?

Another report coming out of ASN's Renal Week details the possible link between low levels of Vitamin D in African Americans to their higher incidence of ESRD.

Michal L. Melamed, MD, MHS, associate professor of medicine and epidemiology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York, and her coauthors analyzed data from 13,328 participants in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) III Follow-Up Study, in which 25(OH)D levels were measured from 1988 through 1994, and then participants were followed for up to 12 years. Serum 25(OH)D deficiency was defined as anything below 15 ng/mL.

After adjustment for clinical, demographic, and socioeconomic factors, the incidence of ESRD was 2.6 times greater in people whose serum 25(OH)D was less than 15 ng/mL than in those with higher levels. When the investigators adjusted for clinical covariates other than 25(OH)D, the risk of developing ESRD was 2.83 times higher among the black than among the white participants. Adjusting for ESRD reduced the risk by 58%, leading the authors to conclude that low serum 25(OH)D levels might account for a significant proportion of the ESRD risk experienced by the black participants.

Before putting everyone on 400- 1000 IU Vitamin D to prevent ESRD, we must understand this is an observational study and must be interpreted as such. Whether there is an association or a cause - effect relationship is as of yet, unknown.