Adequate vitamin D levels may reduce the risk of chronic kidney disease in patients with diabetes

Vitamin D is mainly derived from ultraviolet radiation and dietary intake. It is a common fat-soluble vitamin that is essential for bone health. In recent years, studies have found that vitamin D has possible kidney protective effects such as inhibiting renin synthesis, reducing glomerular podocyte damage, and regulating endothelial function. Recently, Zhou Chun, a doctoral student at the National Clinical Research Center for Kidney Diseases of Southern Hospital, and others published a research paper in the biomedical journal Diabetes Care , showing that: in diabetic people, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels are significantly negatively correlated with their subsequent risk of chronic kidney disease (CKD); but no similar association was found in non-diabetic people. Professor Nie Jing and Professor Qin Xianhui of Southern Hospital are the corresponding authors.

The study included more than 340,000 participants without CKD at baseline from the UK Biobank database, of which 13.1%, 41.9%, and 45.0% had baseline serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels of severe deficiency (<25 nmol/L), moderate deficiency (25-50 nmol/L), insufficiency, or normal (≥50 nmol/L), respectively.

After about 12 years of follow-up observation, 8.2% of the participants in the diabetic population developed CKD; in the non-diabetic population, 2.3% of the participants developed CKD. The analysis found that in the diabetic population, serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were significantly negatively correlated with the risk of CKD (Figure 1A). Compared with participants with serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels <25 nmol/L (severe deficiency), participants with 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels ≥50 nmol/L (insufficient or normal) had a significantly reduced risk of CKD by 23%; at the same time, whether the participants had a higher or lower genetic risk of CKD, it would not affect the negative correlation between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D and the risk of CKD. However, in the non-diabetic population, there was no significant correlation between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and the risk of CKD (Figure 1B).

Figure 1. Correlation between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and the risk of CKD in diabetic (A) and non-diabetic (B) populations

In conclusion, our study found that serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were inversely associated with the risk of CKD in diabetic patients, but no significant association was observed in nondiabetic patients. These results highlight the importance of maintaining adequate vitamin D levels for preventing CKD in diabetic patients.

References:

Zhou C, He P, Ye Z, Zhang Y, Zhang Y, Yang S, Wu Q, Liu M, Nie J, Qin

Editor: Zhou Chun and Huang Yu

Reviewer: Qin Xianhui

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