High prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in African American kidney transplant recipients.

Kidney transplant patients are at high risk for developing Vitamin D(3) deficiency. The prevalence rates of 25(OH) Vitamin D(3) deficiency and its association with parathyroid hormone (PTH) levels in African American kidney transplant recipients have not been examined. We measured 25(OH) Vitamin D(3) and intact PTH concentrations in 38 African American transplant patients at our center in October 2006. We collected various laboratory data including serum creatinine, calcium, phosphate, alkaline phosphatase, and glomerular filtration rate. Vitamin D(3) deficiency was present in 57.8% of the patients and 94.7% had insufficiency. Ten of 22 (45%) patients with chronic kidney disease stage 3 had intact PTH more than or equal to 70 pg/mL. On multivariate analysis, 25(OH) Vitamin D(3) level was negatively correlated with intact PTH (P<0.01) and alkaline phosphatase level was positively associated with intact PTH levels (P<0.002). Vitamin D(3) deficiency and insufficiency is present in most of the African American kidney transplant patients.