Presented by: Brad Astor, PhD, MPH
Associate Professor, Departments of Population Health Sciences and Medicine
University of Wisconsin- Madison
Monday, November 19th, 2018
12:00-1:00 pm
1335 Health Sciences Learning Center
The number of individuals in the US with a functioning kidney transplant has nearly doubled since 2000, reaching nearly 200,000. Kidney transplantation offers significant advantages over chronic dialysis in terms of quality of life and survival for patients with end stage renal disease (ESRD), but long-term outcomes remain suboptimal. More than 25% of deceased donor grafts and approximately 15% of living donor grafts fail within the first 5 years after transplant, primarily due to immune-mediated outcomes (infection or rejection). Recent recognition of the role of vitamin D in innate and adaptive immune processes and studies in the general population support the hypothesis that vitamin D is associated with immune-mediated outcomes. As vitamin D deficiency is common in kidney transplant recipients and potentially modifiable, it is critical to examine its role in this high-risk population.
Indirect evidence of such an association was evaluated in analyses of a national database of kidney transplant recipients which compared the incidence of specific outcomes across seasons. More direct evidence for an association between serum vitamin D levels and incidence of cytomegalovirus (CMV), a clinically significant infection in kidney transplant recipients, was evaluated in analyses of the Wisconsin Allograft Recipient Database (WisARD). Ongoing studies will evaluate similar associations in additional populations.
This post was authored by Rosalind Bendix-Lewis on 11/15/2018.