ORLANDO, Fla.—Treatment of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency with ergocalciferol in chronic hemodialysis (HD) patients with type 2 diabetes is associated with a significant reduction in the risk of vascular access dysfunction (VAD), researchers reported at the National Kidney Foundation’s 2013 Spring Clinical Meetings.
Karina Vasquez, MD, and colleagues at the University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio studied 256 HD patients, of whom 155 (61%) had type 2 diabetes. Of these, 112 were treated with ergocalciferol. Ergocalciferol treatment was associated with a significant 68% decreased risk of VAD.
Additionally, compared with patients without diabetes, those with diabetes did not have an increased risk of VAD, after adjusting for multiple variables such as baseline 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25OHD).
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The researchers defined vitamin D deficiency as a serum level of 25OHD below 15 ng/mL and vitamin D insufficiency as a level of 15-30 ng/mL. They defined VAD as vascular access thrombosis, failure to mature, pseudo-aneurysmal development, Steal syndrome, or vascular access stenosis.
