The Effect of Long-Term Cholecalciferol Supplementation on Vascular Calcification in Chronic Kidney Disease Patients With Hypovitaminosis D.

What Was Tested

This randomized controlled trial looks at Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

The role of vitamin D supplementation on vascular calcification (VC) in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD) is controversial.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of long-term cholecalciferol supplementation on VC in nondialysis patients with CKD stages 3-4 with hypovitaminosis D.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are teenagers, young adults, adults, middle-aged adults, older adults and people over 80, both men and women.

Patients with vitamin D deficiency [25(OH)D < 15 ng/mL] were included in an observational study and mandatorily received cholecalciferol.

How the Study Was Run

In design terms this was a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study.

Random assignment meant chance, not the researchers, decided who got Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc and who got the comparison, which limits bias.

As a double-blind Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc study, the assignments were hidden from both participants and investigators until the end.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc group a baseline to be compared against.

Individuals with vitamin D insufficiency (25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] level between 16 and 29 ng/mL) were included in a randomized, double-blind, two-arm study to receive cholecalciferol or placebo.

The coronary artery calcium score was obtained by multislice computed tomography at baseline and the 18th month.

What Was Measured

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Cholecalciferol, Dietary Supplements, Disease Progression, Parathyroid Hormone, Renal Insufficiency, Chronic, Vascular Calcification and Vitamin D.

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc.

Its findings take up roughly 8 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2019 (Journal of renal nutrition : the official journal of the Council on Renal Nutrition of the National Kidney Foundation), a journal based in United States.

More context: the Vitamin D, K2, Magnesium and Zinc compound page, all human trials.