Vitamin D reduces mortality rate in kidney patients

Washington, May 9 (IANS) Activated vitamin D administered to patients with moderate to severe chronic kidney disease (CKD) reduces mortality by a fourth, according to the latest findings.

The findings are based on a study of 1,418 patients with moderate to severely impaired kidney function. They also had high parathyroid hormone levels (hyperparathyroidism), which can contribute to weakening of the bones in CKD patients.

Researchers identified a group that was being treated with calcitriol to lower parathyroid hormone levels, and another group that was not receiving calcitriol.

Patients with advanced CKD take calcitriol, an oral form of activated vitamin D, to treat elevated levels of parathyroid hormone, explained Bryan Kestenbaum of the University of Washington, one of the co-authors of the study.

During a two-year follow-up period, mortality rates were compared for patients who were and were not taking calcitriol. "We then adjusted for differences in age, kidney function, parathyroid hormone levels, other illnesses, and other medications," says Kestenbaum.

In the adjusted analysis, the overall risk of death was about 26 percent lower for patients taking calcitriol. Patients on calcitriol were also less likely to develop end-stage renal disease, requiring dialysis to replace lost kidney function.

"Recently, there has been an increased focus on the effects of vitamin D beyond those on bone health," Kestenbaum comments. "Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with risk factors for cardiovascular disease, such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and inflammation."

These findings will appear in the August issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

IANS

Form of vitamin D lowers kidney-disease death risk

Form of vitamin D lowers kidney-disease death risk

Kidney-Diseases.Com

CTV.ca News Staff

Chronic kidney disease patients may see their risk of death drop by one quarter if they take a form of vitamin D, a new study says.

In a study of more than 1,400 people with chronic kidney disease, those that were taking the drug calcitriol, a form of activated vitamin D, had a 26 per cent reduction in their risk of death versus those who were not on the drug. Overall, the patients on calcitriol had their risk of either death or dialysis due to a loss of kidney function fall by 20 per cent.

The study is published in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.

A healthy human body uses first the liver and then the kidneys to convert vitamin D obtained through diet and sunlight into an active form that the body can use. However, it is believed that patients with chronic kidney disease are unable to do complete the second step.

They are often prescribed activated vitamin D to help lower elevated levels of the parathyroid hormone, which can lead to a weakening of the bones. However, people with kidney disease often suffer from calcified, or stiff, blood vessels, which can lead to a host of cardiovascular problems. Vitamin D increases calcium levels in the blood, which doctors fear could exacerbate this problem.

"We did find that people who got the activated vitamin D drug did have a higher risk of having a high calcium level in the blood," study author Dr. Bryan Kestenbaum of the University of Washington told Ctv.ca.

"But the overall amount of people that that happened to was relatively small, and the overall balance was that people who got the activated vitamin D drug survived longer."

Kestenbaum speculated that vitamin D leads to decreased mortality rates because of its known ability to lower risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including high blood pressure, diabetes and inflammation.

He said that the next step in this field of research would be to conduct randomized clinical trials to confirm vitamin D's effect on survival rates among patients with kidney disease.

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Discovering The Early Warning Signs Of Kidney Disease

Discovering The Early Warning Signs Of Kidney Disease

Diabetes is known to cause severe kidney damage due to years of neglect of high blood glucose levels. The proper term for kidney damage t hat is caused by diabetes is called “diabetic nephropathy”.

Unfortunately, many people do not pay attention to the early warning signs of kidney damage. For example, diabetics can have a simple urine test that looks for findings of microalbuminuria. A person with healthy kidneys will only allow a small amount of albumin (protein in blood) to enter into the urine. Damage kidneys that are the result of nephropathy cannot prevent much of the albumin from entering the urine, thereby increasing its levels, resulting in microalbuminuria.

However, these tests may not always find early warning signs of kidney disease. Even if your doctor is testing for diabetic nephropathy, and you are indeed in the early stages of kidney disease, a test may still come back negative because the amounts of albumin within your urine can be so small that it will not flag a positive result. Your doctor should then initiate a more sensitive test for microalbuminuria which has the technology to locate even the smallest amounts of albumin in the urine.

This test is best done if samples of your urine is taken over a prolonged period of time. This is due to the fact that false positive tests can be triggered by such activities as exercise. However, if an abnormally high amount of albumin is found during this second, more sophisticated test, than a second test will be initiated.

If the second test also shows that the levels of albumin is high, then you and your doctor can proceed to start taking preventative measures towards the protection of your kidneys. Unfortunately, if you have tested positive for macroalbuminuria than the disease cannot be stopped. It can be slowed down with proper treatment, however.

Type 1 diabetics who have had their disease for five years or more should get checked for macroalbuminuria. This does not mean that you should not get checked if it's been under five years, but studies show that macroalbuminuria hits type 1 diabetics typically after five years of the onset of their diabetes. And anyone who has been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should get checked immediately.

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Kidney Disease: A Serious Complication That Can Result From Diabetes

Kidney Disease: A Serious Complication That Can Result From Diabetes



Diabetes causes numerous long-term illnesses and complications that develop in the body. However, doctors of today are not 100% sure why these complications develop. There are theories, but most of them are based on testing and findings within a small number of animals and people.

The latest research points the cause of long-term complications due to years of the body reaching high blood glucose levels. Typically, 10 years is the average number when people start showing signs of illnesses due to high blood sugar levels.

Your Kidneys

Your kidneys play a vital role in your body's organ system. Their job is to wash out toxins, chemicals, and other compounds from your body. You could easily compare the kidneys to a “filter” in which this filter constantly has blood running through it while it traps waste products and then diverts those waste products through the urine. Once this blood is cleaned and filtered, it is then dumped back into your system for normal circulation. The kidneys also have another job which is to regulate the salt/water content of the body.

People with diabetes, especially type 2 diabetes, run the risk of damaging these important organ systems. Once kidney disease hits and the kidneys start to fail, a person will need to have their blood artificially filtered by a machine. This is called dialysis. Dialysis will not only filter the body's blood, but it will also control the salt and water levels.

Due to diabetes, 50% of those people with kidney failure must be on long term dialysis treatments. The good news is that recent surveys are showing that this number is slowly declining due to more people becoming educated about the risk of running high glucose levels.

Because diabetes is categorized into two parts, type 1 and type 2, there are different numbers of people from each group that reach the point of kidney failure from high glucose levels. Only 5% of those people that have type 2 diabetes hit kidney failure. That is a significantly low number compared to the 30% of people who reach kidney failure that have type 2 diabetes.

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Kidney Cancer- What You Need To Know By: Michael Russell

Kidney Cancer- What You Need To Know By: Michael Russell


Seeing blood in one's urine can be a disturbing occurrence. This might signal a major illness that needs proper medical attention.

Kidney cancer is defined as an abnormal growth of cells in the kidney that is beyond control. Renal cell cancer is the most common type of kidney cancer. This accounts for 85 percent of all kidney tumors. The causes of kidney cancer are not always known. However, smoking, some genetic factors and medicine overuse are some of the factors that can predispose a person to a higher risk of kidney cancer. Today, the incidence of kidney cancer is increasing. This is probably due to most people's rising exposure to environmental carcinogens. However, kidney cancer only accounts for about 2 percent of all adult cancers. Kidney cancer is more commonly seen in men than in women and mostly affecting those people above the age of 40. Kidney cancer incidence is seen at its peak with people between the ages 50 and 60. Our kidneys serve to function as our body's filter system. These come as paired bean shaped organs. The lower rib cage protects these two important organs. Kidneys filter excess water, salt and waste products. The waste materials that are filtered are excreted from the body as urine. Furthermore, our kidneys function to produce chemicals that aid in controlling the blood pressure. These are also responsible in producing substances involved in the red blood cell formation.


There are three classic symptoms of kidney cancer which include hematuria or the presence of blood in the urine, a long standing pain that doesn't seem to go away, and a lump or palpable mass in the abdomen. The occurrence of any one of these symptoms may signal the first sign of kidney cancer. The cancer might have already spread to the renal pelvis if there is evidence of microscopic or gross hematuria. The abdominal pain experienced by patients with kidney cancer maybe constant and dull. The lump or palpable mass is commonly smooth, non-tender and firm. Almost 10 percent of all kidney cancer patients exhibit the three classic symptoms. Other symptoms of kidney cancer include fever, a general feeling of illness, hypertension, and hypercalcemia. Hypercalcemia is a condition wherein there is an elevated calcium level in the blood. Experts believe that the increase calcium level in the blood is caused by tumor, which produces parathyroid hormone. Additionally, there might also be urinary retention, weight loss, edema or excess fluid in the legs, vomiting, and nausea.

There are several clinical tests available in order to confirm the presence of kidney cancer. These include intravenous pyelography, retrograde pyelography, and ultrasound studies. In order to rule out associated bladder cancer, a cystoscopy may be performed. On the other hand to distinguish kidney cyst from tumor, a nephrotomography or renal angiography is often done. In some cases biopsy may be done in order to confirm the presence of cancer cells.

Radical nephrectomy is often the procedure of choice for patients with kidney cancer. This form of treatment is by far the best procedure and which offers the only chance of cure for kidney cancer patients. Nephrectomy is the surgical removal of the affected kidney. Although surgery is the primary choice of treatment, it is still upon the doctor's discretion to use combination of methods and create the best treatment plan depending upon the patient's age, health, and the cancer stage.

Finally, the earlier kidney cancer is detected the higher is the patient's chance of cure and recovery. Kidney cancer is less likely to spread to other parts of the body during its early stages.

Naturally Dissolve Kidney Stones- Save Thousands by Dissolving Kidney Stones at Home

Why Kidney Stones Are Formed

Kidney Stones are most often formed because of a lack of hydration (water) which results in lower levels of urine. Due to the lack of water in the body, calcium deposits form thus creating kidney stones. You might have heard that kidney stones are formed from drinking too much soda. In a way this is true and not true. Drinking soda allows the person to feel like they are well hydrated. However, soda is a diuretic which causes the body to excrete urine faster which causes dehydration. Thus, by drinking soda you greatly increase your likelihood of forming kidney stones. Dissolving Kidney Stones at HomeYou can actually dissolve and pass kidney stones at home with two simple ingredients. The first ingredient (phosphoric acid) consists of dissolving the kidney stones with higher levels of acids. Don't be nervous about acids because half the foods/drinks we digest have acids in them. The acidic drink creates a hostile environment for kidney stones and actually begins the dissolving process of the stones in minutes. By drinking a specific amount for the first two hours in the treatment, you can actually dissolve your kidney stones so they will be able to pass them in hours. The next step is a simple body flush which will pass the kidney stones in hours while also leaving your body hydrated from the dissolving the stones. Everything listed above can be done with two simple ingredients which dissolve and pass your kidney stones in less than 24 hours! And your body does all the work without stepping foot near a hospital.To learn more about a simple and guaranteed remedy to naturally dissolve kidney stones, please visit our website which has helped thousands of kidney stone sufferers. Our kidney stone treatment is a step-by-step treatment which has a 6 month 100% guarantee.

Author Joe Barton

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