Vitamin D deficiency and chronic kidney disease risk: cause or merely association?

McCarron and Drueke present an editorial on risk factors of vitamin D deficiency and chronic kidney disease (CKD). One aspect of CKD is unquestioned, whether it is early renal impairment or once end-stage disease ensues, vitamin D concentrations are inadequate to maintain optimal mineral balance. In healthy subjects, the role of vitamin D in disease prevention runs the gamut of cancer to diabetes, with only bone health firmly established. Even its essential role in bone health is dependent on sufficient calcium intake.The interest in vitamin D's possible role in health maintenance is clouded by the expansive use of measuring serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations in the healthy population combined with the debate as to what constitutes a normal serum concentration.