A Study of Oral Ergocalciferol to Treat Pruritis in Hemodialysis Patients

Summary

Pruritis (itching) is common in many people with chronic renal failure on hemodialysis. There may be many different reasons for the pruritis. Efforts to treat the problem have not been very effective. Vitamin D levels have been found to be low in many hemodialysis patients. Since vitamin D plays an important role in the skin and is effective in treatment of certain skin conditions that involve pruritis, it may have a role in treatment of pruritis in hemodialysis patients. The objective of the investigators study is to determine the effect of supplementation with oral vitamin D2 (ergocalciferol) on pruritis in hemodialysis patients.

Timeline

Start

2010-07

Primary completion

2011-11

Completion

2012-02

Publications

• Hercz D, Jiang SH, Webster AC. Interventions for itch in people with advanced chronic kidney disease. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2020 Dec 7;12(12):CD011393. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD011393.pub2.
• Shirazian S, Schanler M, Shastry S, Dwivedi S, Kumar M, Rice K, Miyawaki N, Ghosh S, Fishbane S. The effect of ergocalciferol on uremic pruritus severity: a randomized controlled trial. J Ren Nutr. 2013 Jul;23(4):308-14. doi: 10.1053/j.jrn.2012.12.007. Epub 2013 Feb 27.

Drugs

Indications

No indication recorded.