Objective: The aim of the present study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of calcitriol for treating Chinese patients with IgA nephropathy presenting as non-nephrotic range proteinuria, and a comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted using the related randomized controlled trials (RCTs).
Methods: We searched for RCTs of calcitriol for the treatment of IgA nephropathy in the CNKI, CBM, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials, PUBMED, and EMBASE databases. The studies included in our meta-analysis were strictly determined according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria. We evaluated the quality of the included studies using the Jadad score sheet and performed the meta-analysis using RevMan software (version 5.30).
Results: Our meta-analysis, which included 7 RCTs involving 310 Chinese participants, showed that calcitriol contributed to a decrease in proteinuria standard mean difference (SMD) -1.49, 95% CI (-2.37, -0.62); p = 0.0008). No significant differences were observed in serum creatinine (SMD -0.13, 95% CI (-0.53, 0.27); p = 0.52), serum calcium (SMD 0.28, 95% CI (-0.08, 0.65); p = 0.13), or serum phosphorus (SMD 0.03, 95% CI (-0.07, 0.14); p = 0.57) levels. All of the adverse reactions mentioned in these studies were mild.
Conclusion: These data indicated that calcitriol is a promising treatment to reduce proteinuria in Chinese patients with IgA nephropathy presenting as non-nephrotic range proteinuria, and it has only mild side effects. .