Does Vitamin D Affect Blood Pressure Levels in Children with Chronic Kidney Disease?
September 26, 2024
What associations exist between vitamin D and blood pressure in children with chronic kidney disease? A paper recently published in Pediatric Nephrology using data from the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD)study explored the subject.
The first author of the paper was Juhi Kumar, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Nephrology at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh and the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Dr. Kumar is the medical director of the Pediatric Kidney Transplant program at UPMC Children’s.
Study Summary and Main Findings
The study, "Vitamin D and its Associations with Blood Pressure in the Chronic Kidney Disease in Children (CKiD) Cohort," examined how vitamin D levels and blood pressure in children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) may be linked. While there is some prior research conducted in adult populations which has suggested a connection between low vitamin D levels and higher blood pressure, the findings are not directly applicable to a pediatric population and there are few investigations that have been conducted in children on the subject.
Using data from 370 children in the CKiD cohort, the study looked at how vitamin D levels (measured as 25-hydroxyvitamin D, 25OHD) were related to both clinic and ambulatory blood pressure readings over time. The analysis showed that lower vitamin D levels at the start of the study were associated with slightly higher systolic blood pressure in the clinic. Specifically, for every 10 ng/ml drop in vitamin D, the systolic blood pressure index was 1% higher. However, this same association was not seen in diastolic blood pressure or in the ambulatory blood pressure measurements from the participants.
Collectively the study’s findings suggest that maintaining adequate vitamin D levels may help manage systolic blood pressure in children with CKD, but the lack of consistent findings across different blood pressure measures points to a need for further research to understand the potential benefits of vitamin D supplementation in children with chronic kidney disease.
Dr. Kumar’s early career work was largely research oriented, having earned a National Institute of Health (NIH)/NIDDK, K23 career development award for clinical research which was focused on vitamin D deficiency and chronic kidney disease in children.
Read more about Dr. Kumar’s past research and clinical work by visiting her PubMed listing for peer-reviewed research.
Read more about Dr. Kumar’s prior K23 Award, the ongoing VIRTUUS study, and the BICARb Pilot Trial, an NIH R01 funded trial in which she is a co-principal investigator studying the use of potassium citrate as a means to treat or mitigate the effects of chronic kidney disease on bone health.
