High Prevalence of Vitamin D Insufficiency in Southern Chinese Renal Transplant Recipients

Figures & data

Figure 1.  The level of 25(OH)D in renal transplant recipients and healthy controls matched for age, sex, and renal function. The numbers in the columns indicate the number of patients in each subgroup, and the error bars indicate the respective standard deviations.

Table 1.  Laboratory parameters of 94 renal transplant recipients compared with age- and sex-matched healthy controls.

	Renal transplant recipient (n = 94)	Healthy control (n = 94)	p-Value
Age	51.0 ± 8.8	51.1 ± 8.5	NS
Male gender (%)	57.4	58.5	NS
Cardiovascular disease (%)	21.3	28.4	NS
Diabetes mellitus (%)	21.3	23.4	NS
25(OH)D (nmol/L)	52.5 ± 15.6	57.5 ± 19.1	0.05
Creatinine (μmol/L)	120.3 ± 48.5	78.3 ± 15.3	0.00
Fasting glucose (mmol/L)	5.3 ± 1.6	5.5 ± 1.5	NS
HbA1c (%)	6.1 ± 1.4	6.2 ± 1.1	NS
Total cholesterol (mmol/L)	4.88 ± 1.10	4.73 ± 0.85	NS
Triglyceride (mmol/L)	1.40 ± 0.74	1.31 ± 0.53	NS
Low-density lipoprotein (mmol/L)	2.71 ± 0.86	2.73 ± 0.74	NS
High-density lipoprotein (mmol/L)	1.57 ± 0.50	1.39 ± 0.43	NS

Note: NS, not significant.

Table 2.  Comparison between kidney transplant recipients with 25(OH)D level <50 nmol/L, 50–75 nmol/L, or >75 nmol/L.

	Overall	25(OH)D < 50 (nmol/L)	25(OH)D 50–75 (nmol/L)	25(OH)D > 75 (nmol/L)
Number of patients	94	41	51	2
Age (yrs)	51.0 ± 8.8	48.7 ± 10.1	52.9 ± 7.4	52.5 ± 0.7
Age at transplantation (years)**	38.9 ± 11.3	36.8 ± 12.1	40.4 ± 10.6	45.0 ± 1.4
Male/female (%/%)	54/40 (57.4%/42.6%)	22/19 (53.7%/46.3%)	30/21 (58.5%/41.2%)	2/0 (100.0%/0.0%)
Cause of renal failure, n (%)
Chronic glomerulonephritis	50 (53.1%)	23 (56.1%)	25 (49.0%)	2 (100%)
Hypertension	2 (1.9%)	0 (0.0%)	2 (3.9%)	0 (0%)
Diabetes	6 (5.6%)	3 (7.3%)	3 (5.9%)	0 (0%)
Unknown	33 (30.6%)	12 (29.3%)	21 (41.2%)	0 (0%)
Others	3 (2.8%)	3 (7.3%)	0 (0%)	0 (0%)
Immunosuppressant, n (%)
Prednisolone + CNI + MPA	28 (29.8%)	14 (34.1%)	14 (27.5%)	0
Prednisolone + CNI + mTOR	10 (10.6%)	5 (12.2%)	5 (9.8%)	0
Prednisolone + CNI + AZA	19 (20.2%)	5 (12.2%)	12 (23.4%)	2 (100%)
Prednisolone + CNI	26 (27.7%)	10 (24.4%)	16 (31.4%)	0
Prednisolone + AZA	5 (5.3%)	3 (7.3%)	2 (3.9%)	0
Prednisolone + mTOR	1 (1.1%)	0	1 (2.0%)	0
Steroid-free regime	5 (5.3%)	4 (9.8%)	1 (2.0%)	0
Duration of dialysis (months)	24.2 ± 30.0	15.4 ± 15.2	29.4 ± 37.6	13.0
Type of transplantation, n (%)
Cadaveric	67 (71.3%)	30 (73.2%)	35 (68.6%)	2 (100%)
Living donor	27 (28.7%)	11 (26.8%)	16 (31.4%)	0 (0%)
Duration of transplantation (months)	148.7 ± 92.1	149.7 ± 100.0	150.1 ± 87.4	90.5 ± 19.1
Acute rejection, n (%)	18 (19.1%)	10 (24.4%)	8 (15.7%)	0 (0%)
Biochemistry
Serum creatinine (μmol/L)	120.31 ± 48.5	122.3 ± 59.1	119.2 ± 39.6	108.5 ± 13.5
eGFR (mL/min)	54.4 ± 18.8	53.6 ± 21.1	54.7 ± 17.3	62.0 ± 8.5
PTH (pmol/L)	10.2 ± 7.4	11.7 ± 7.7	9.3 ± 7.2	6.1 ± 2.7
Calcium (mmol/L)	2.36 ± 0.27	2.30 ± 0.39	2.40 ± 0.12	2.37 ± 0.04
Phosphate (mmol/L)	1.02 ± 0.20	1.01 ± 0.24	1.03 ± 0.16	0.94 ± 0.08

Notes: AZA, azathioprine; CNI, calcineurin inhibitor; MPA, mycophenolic acid; mTOR, mammalian target of rapamycin.

*p = 0.02 between 25(OH)D < 50 nmol/L and 50–75 nmol/L group.

**p = 0.03 between 25(OH)D 50–75 nmol/L and >75 nmol/L group.

Table 3.  Correlation between 25(OH)D and various clinical and laboratory parameters in 94 renal transplant recipients.

	Correlation coefficient	p-Value
Log PTH	−0.34	0.001
Log creatinine	−0.052	0.62
Calcium	0.15	0.15
Phosphate	−0.057	0.58
Duration of dialysis	−0.074	0.51
Duration of transplantation	0.034	0.74