Renal Transplant Patients Often Deficient in Vitamin D

A new study reports transplant patients are at risk of deficiency in 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D because of lack of sun exposure.

Because they are on immunosuppressant medications, kidney transplant patients must protect themselves from sun exposure, Dr. Kerstin Querings of the Universtatsklinikum des Saarlandes in Homburg/Saar, Germany, and colleagues note in the February issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.

Dr. Querings and her team recommend a single 50,000 IU dose of vitamin D once weekly for eight weeks for patients with vitamin D deficiency, and 50,000 IU once or twice a month to maintain levels of the vitamin. Optimal levels of 25(OH)D are above 20 ng/mL.

"If we follow the guidelines discussed above carefully, these measures will protect renal transplant recipients sufficiently against the serious health problems of vitamin D deficiency without increasing their risk to develop UV-induced skin cancer," the researchers said (Reuters Health).