Vitamin D Supplementation in Kidney Disease

Vitamin D Supplementation on Physical and Cognitive Function-Pilot Study

This is a double-blind placebo controlled pilot study to determine if vitamin D supplementation in hemodialysis (HD) patients will improve physical function and cognition. HD patients have a high prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, cognitive impairment, and physical impairment. Despite standard clinical care with active IV vitamin D during dialysis, HD patients still have markedly low levels of nutritional or dietary vitamin D. IV treatment with vitamin D during dialysis is aimed at treating HD related bone disease. Recent literature shows that oral or nutritional vitamin D has multiple extra-skeletal effects including improvement in cognition and physical function. In this study, the investigators plan to administer oral vitamin D to vitamin D deficient HD patients already receiving standard care with IV vitamin D therapy. Patients will be randomized to receive either placebo or 50,000 IU of vitamin D (cholecalciferol) weekly for 6 months. The investigators' specific aims are to 1) Assess the benefits of correcting nutritional vitamin D deficiency on cognitive and physical function in HD patients receiving routine standard of care, 2) Assess the feasibility of recruiting HD patients for this study, and 3) Evaluate the proposed regimen for safely and effectively increasing nutritional vitamin D levels with oral supplementation. The investigators anticipate that correction of nutritional vitamin D deficiency to optimal levels will improve the high prevalence of cognitive impairment and physical impairment in this population. These results will be used as evidence to support a larger study aimed at treating nutritional vitamin D deficiency in all patients receiving HD. These results may also contribute to a change in current guidelines which place little emphasis on the monitoring and treatment of nutritional vitamin D levels in HD patients. These results are important for the Veteran dialysis population since many of them are required to perform high-level cognitive tasks such as management of complex medical regimens and physical tasks such as orchestrating independent transportation to and from HD sessions and multiple physician appointments.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Vitamin D Deficiency; Renal Dialysis
• Intervention / Treatment: Dietary supplement: Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D)

Detailed Description

Patients will first be identified based on the inclusion criteria, then informed about the study and consented. Those who meet the exclusion criteria will be randomized to treatment or placebo. Enrolled participants will be randomized 2:1 to receive vitamin D (n=20) or placebo (n=10) for 6 months. All participants will be tested twice over two weeks to establish baseline values. Following baseline testing, the treatment group will receive 50,000 IU (standard replacement therapy) of oral cholecalciferol or placebo. The initial dose of cholecalciferol will be 50,000 IU weekly for 6 weeks. Vitamin D levels will then be measured. Participants who still have Vitamin D insufficiency ( 35 ng/ml) will remain on 50,000 IU of cholecalciferol for another 6 weeks, at which point Vitamin D levels will be measured again. Participants who reach 25-OH levels > 35 ng/ml will have their dosing regimen lessened to 10,000 IU weekly (maintenance dose) for the remainder of the 6 months. Participants receiving placebo will start taking the placebo maintenance dose after the first 6 weeks. For safety monitoring, 25(OH) vitamin D3 levels will also be re-measured at monthly intervals and followed by an independent medical monitor. In patients who have serum vitamin D levels 60ng/ml, the frequency of administration will be reduced to once a month. The participants will receive supplementation for a total of 6 months. At this time, vitamin D levels will be reassessed and participants will undergo follow-up functional assessments, and cognitive and immune testing.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 20
• Phase: Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

Study Locations

• United States
  • New York
    • Bronx, New York, United States, 10468
      • James J. Peters VA Medical Center, Bronx, NY

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 45 years to 89 years (Adult, Older Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• Receiving HD for at least two weeks
• Receiving IV vitamin D supplementation according to National Kidney Foundation guidelines.
• Male or female with an between the ages of 45-89 years
• Veteran outpatient or stable community living center patient
• Able to ambulate independently or with an assistive device for at least 20 feet

Exclusion Criteria:

• 25-OH vitamin D level < 25 ng/ml
• Hypercalcemia
• Active malignancy within 6 months
• Receiving intravenous antibiotics for infection
• History of Dementia
• Hemoglobin < 8.5g
• History of conditions that interfere with postural instability (e.g. cerebellar disease, vestibular disease or any others that may present)
• Poor compliance with dialysis treatments (history of skipping 2 treatments per month for > 2 months)

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: Quadruple

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Vitamin D; Hemodialysis Patients randomized to take Vitamin D supplements	Dietary supplement: Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D); 50,000 units of cholecalciferol or a placebo pill administered once a week for 6 months
Placebo Comparator: Placebo; Hemodialysis Patients randomized to take placebo pills	Dietary supplement: Cholecalciferol (Vitamin D); 50,000 units of cholecalciferol or a placebo pill administered once a week for 6 months

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Hip Flexor Strength	Neuromuscular Function - strength testing of hip flexors. Hip flexor strength measured using a push-pull muscle strength dynamometer. Participants performed a hip flexor exercise 3 times at each visit. The final result at each time point was an average of the 3 tries. Outcome measure is change between baseline and 6 months.	6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Quality-of-Life Self Assessment	questionnaire of physical/medical health	6 months
Neuropsychological Assessments	battery of neurocognitive tests	6 months
Immune Function Assessments	assay of immunity markers	6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: VA Office of Research and Development
• Investigators: Principal Investigator: James B Post, MD, James J. Peters Veterans Affairs Medical Center

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): December 1, 2011
• Primary Completion (Actual): June 30, 2022
• Study Completion (Actual): December 30, 2022

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: October 26, 2010
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: October 26, 2010
• First Posted (Estimated): October 28, 2010

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): August 22, 2025
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: August 12, 2025
• Last Verified: August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Nutrition Disorders; Avitaminosis; Deficiency Diseases; Malnutrition; Vitamin D Deficiency; Calcium-Regulating Hormones and Agents; Physiological Effects of Drugs; Bone Density Conservation Agents; Micronutrients; Vitamins; Vitamin D; Cholecalciferol
• Other Study ID Numbers: F7539-P

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: NO

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No
• product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.: No