Research paper
Treatment with intermittent calcitriol and calcium reduces bone loss after renal transplantation.
Study answer
What this study found
Calcitriol plus calcium was associated with less early post-transplant bone loss and a faster fall in parathyroid hormone than calcium alone. At 3 months, PTH was 61.4 ± 42.2 pg/mL versus 85.7 ± 53.1 pg/mL (P = 0.02), and total hip BMD change was 0.04 ± 3.3% versus -1.93 ± 3.2% (P = 0.01). At 12 months, total hip BMD remained better preserved with calcitriol (0.32 ± 4.8% vs -2.17 ± 4.4%, P = 0.03), with significant differences also at the intertrochanter, trochanter, and Ward’s triangle, but not the femoral neck. The genotype effect was stronger in carriers of the at-risk VDR B allele, and…
- Study & population
- Randomized trial in adult kidney transplant recipients with a first or second graft and no prior parathyroidectomy.
- Intervention
- Adults with renal transplantation received oral calcium lactogluconate providing 0.5 g elemental calcium daily for 1 year.
- Key limitation
- The analyzed sample at 1 year was smaller than the randomized sample, which reduces precision.
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Open PDFOriginal abstract
BACKGROUND Bone loss occurs during the first 6 months after renal transplantation (RT), and corticosteroid therapy plays an important role. Although calcium plus vitamin D administration prevents corticosteroid-induced osteoporosis, its use in RT rec…