Vitamin D deficiency is an independent risk factor for urinary tract infections after renal transplants.

Abstract

Vitamin D deficiency is frequently found in patients with renal transplants (RTxs). Because vitamin D plays indispensable roles in the immune system, there may be an association between vitamin D deficiency and infection in these patients, but this has not been fully elucidated. Therefore, this study investigated the impact of pre-RTx vitamin D deficiency on urinary tract infection (UTI) development after RTx.We measured 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 (25(OH)D3) levels in 410 patients 2 weeks before they underwent RTx. Vitamin D deficiency was defined as 25(OH)D3 <10 ng/mL. The primary outcome was UTI occurrence after RTx. Cox proportional hazard analysis determined whether vitamin D deficiency was independently associated with UTI.The mean 25(OH)D3 level was 12.8 ± 6.9 ng/mL, and 171 patients (41.7%) were vitamin D deficient. During a median follow-up duration of 7.3 years, the UTI incidence was significantly higher in vitamin D-deficient patients (52 patients, 30.4%) compared with vitamin D-nondeficient patients (40 patients, 16.7%) (P = 0.001). Moreover, multivariate Cox proportional hazard analysis showed that vitamin D deficiency was an independent predictor of UTI after RTx (hazard ratio 1.81, 95% confidence interval 1.11-2.97, P = 0.02).Vitamin D deficiency was an independent risk factor for UTI after RTx; hence, determining 25(OH)D3 levels might help to predict infectious complications after RTx.

• Authors: Young Eun Kwon, Hyunwook Kim, Hyung Jung Oh, Jung Tak Park, Seung Hyeok Han, Dong-Ryeol Ryu, Tae-Hyun Yoo, Shin-Wook Kang
• Journal: Medicine (Medicine (Baltimore)) Vol. 94 Issue 9 Pg. e594 (Mar 2015) ISSN: 1536-5964 [Electronic] United States
• PMID: 25738483 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)

Chemical References

• Calcifediol

Topics

• Adult
• Body Mass Index
• Calcifediol (blood)
• Comorbidity
• Female
• Humans
• Incidence
• Kidney Transplantation (statistics & numerical data)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Retrospective Studies
• Risk Factors
• Urinary Tract Infections (epidemiology)
• Vitamin D Deficiency (epidemiology)