In the study that included 264 kidney transplant recipients, researchers led by Yoshitsugu Obi, MD, PhD (Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, in Japan) measured patients' baseline blood levels of vitamin D and examined their links with kidney function decline, rejection episodes, and death.
Vitamin D levels had an almost linear relationship with annual kidney function decline. Also, with vitamin D sufficiency (≥20 ng/mL) as the reference, vitamin D inadequacy (≥12 and <20 ng/mL) and deficiency (<12 ng/mL) showed significant dose-dependent associations with higher risks of organ rejection and death.
"Low vitamin D predicts adverse allograft outcomes, and vitamin D supplementation early after kidney transplantation may improve patient outcome," the authors concluded.
Source: Eurekalert
