May 1, 2008 - JASN ePress abstract from the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology:

Vitamin D Receptor Activators Can Protect against Vascular Calcification

April 10, 2008 - Full-text, Advance Access editorial comment from Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation entitled "Use (or misuse) of vitamin D treatment in CKD and dialysis patients."

"A recent meta-analysis on vitamin D compounds in chronic kidney disease and an editorial comment accompanying this meta-analysis have already been published. We believe that these papers deserve some comments in the interest of the NDT readership."

Also appearing today in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology is a JASN ePress abstract:

Impact of Activated Vitamin D and Race on Survival among Hemodialysis Patients

February 5, 2008 - Abstract from the Archives of Internal Medicine:

Association of Activated Vitamin D Treatment and Mortality in Chronic Kidney Disease

Conclusions: Treatment with the activated vitamin D analogue calcitriol appears to be associated with significantly greater survival in patients with CKD not yet receiving dialysis. Randomized clinical trials are required to verify the causality of these associations and to examine whether similar associations are seen with different activated vitamin D analogues.

December 18, 2007 - A review with a somewhat shocking conclusion appears this week in the Annals of Internal Medicine:

Meta-analysis: Vitamin D Compounds in Chronic Kidney Disease

Conclusion: Vitamin D compounds do not consistently reduce PTH levels, and beneficial effects on patient-level outcomes are unproven. The value of vitamin D treatment for people with chronic kidney disease remains uncertain.

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