Impact of Vitamin D, Bisphosphonate, and Combination Therapy on Bone Mineral Density in Kidney Transplant Patients

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BackgroundOsteoporosis can develop and become aggravated in kidney transplant patients; however, the best preventive options for post-transplantation osteoporosis remain controversial. MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed cohort of 182 renal transplant recipients of mean age 46.7 ± 12.1 years including 47.3% women. Seventy-three patients received neither vitamin D nor bisphosphonate after transplantation (group 1). The other patients were classified into the following 3 groups: calcium plus vitamin D (group 2; n = 40); bisphosphonate (group 3; n = 18); and both regimens (group 4; n = 51). Bone mineral density (BMD) was evaluated by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry at baseline and at 1 year after transplantation. ResultsAt 1 year after transplantation, T-scores of the femoral neck and entire femur were significantly decreased in group 1 (−0.23 ± 0.65 [P = .004] and −0.21 ± 0.74 [P = .018], respectively), whereas the lumbar spine was significantly increased in group 4 (0.27 ± 0.79; P = .020). Post hoc analysis demonstrated that the delta T-score was significantly lower in group 1 than in group 4 (P = .009, 0.035, and 0.031 for lumbar spine, femoral neck, and entire femur, respectively). In a multivariate analysis adjusted by age, sex, body mass index, dialysis duration, diabetes, calcineurin inhibitors, estimated glomerular filtration rate, and persistent hyperparathyroidism, both group 2 and group 4 showed protective effects on BMD reduction (odds ratio [OR], 0.165; 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.032–0.845 [P = .031]; and OR, 0.169; 95% CI, 0.045–0.626 [P = .008]; respectively). However, group 3 did not show a protective effect (OR, 0.777; 95% CI, 0.198–3.054; P = .718), because their incidence of persistent hyperparathyroidism after transplantation was significantly higher (50.0%) than the other groups (P < .001). The incidence of bone fractures did not differ among the groups. ConclusionsCombination therapy with vitamin D and bisphosphonate was the most effective regimen to improve BMD among kidney recipients.