We Use Too Much Vitamin D in Hemodialysis Patients

Current Kidney Disease Improving Global Outcomes guidelines for chronic kidney disease–mineral and bone disorder recommend maintaining the PTH level between 2 and 9 times the upper limit of normal. PTH levels function as a surrogate for bone turnover to differentiate forms of renal osteodystrophy. Vitamin D receptor agonists are primarily used to treat osteitis fibrosa in hemodialysis patients. However, there is concern that overtreatment may put HD patients at risk for adynamic bone disease, which has been associated with fracture and vascular calcification. This raises the issue as to whether “we use too much vitamin D in hemodialysis patients.”