Vitamin D deficiency, circulating levels lower than 15 ng/ml, is an epidemic disease worldwide with  more than a billion people suffering of it in the beginning of the 21-century. Besides its impact on mineral and bone metabolism, these low vitamin D levels are also associated with a diversity of non-skeletal complications, among them cardiovascular disease, diabetes mellitus, multiple sclerosis, cancer, tuberculosis, and immune system dysfunction. Chronic Kidney Disease is also a very common disease, affecting more than 10% of the world population, ranging from stage 1 to stage 5 before dialysis. Approximately 1% of the population in industrialized countries is affected by end-stage renal disease (ESRD), needing a renal replacement therapy either hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis, and ultimately by renal transplantation. Those CKD patients are more susceptible to exhibit reduced vitamin D stocks. Consequently, more than eighty percent of CKD patients have either insufficient ordeficient vitamin D levels for multiple reasons.

This book provides the entire physiology, pathology, and clinical and therapeutical aspects of vitamin D in the setting of Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD). The chapters, divided into major sections, delve into the metabolism of vitamin D, its assessment methods, and the worldwide epidemiology of vitamin D deficiency. The authors also address the classical biological and biochemical effects vitamin D has on mineral and bone metabolism, as well as on a variety of other non-classic target organs, and look at the effects of vitamin D treatment in CKD. 

Vitamin D in Chronic Kidney Disease  is an extremely timely book that collects the most recent biological, clinical and therapeutic insights, to greatly impact the nephrology community as well as other connected medical specialties.