Vitamin D, dialysis means longer life for some

Giving vitamin D injections to people on dialysis may help them live longer, researchers said.

"We found that patients who are treated with the active hormone vitamin D had a 20 percent survival advantage over patients who were not treated,'' said Dr. Ravi Thadhani, director of clinical research in nephrology at Massachusetts General Hospital.

Thadhani was among a group of researchers who collected information on more than 50,000 dialysis patients across the country.

More than 37,000 of the patients received vitamin D intravenously. At the end of the two-year study, 76 percent of those getting vitamin D were still alive, compared with 59 percent of those not getting the vitamin D.

The annual mortality rate among dialysis patients with chronic kidney disorder is about 20 percent.

People with healthy kidneys can convert vitamin D from food and supplements and make it into an active hormone that the body needs, Thadhani said. People with failing kidneys can't utilize dietary vitamin D.

Currently, vitamin D injections are given to about 50 percent of people with kidney failure, and is only recommended to those with elevated levels of parathyroid hormone.