Effects of long-term cholestyramine administration on vitamin D and parathormone levels in middle-aged men with hypercholesterolemia

Abstract The objective of this study was to evaluate possible adverse effects of long-term bile acid-binding resin (cholestyramine) treatment on vitamin D, parathyroid hormone, and calcium levels in middle-aged men. A double-blind randomized clinical trial was carried out over a period of 7 to 10 years at the University of Minnesota's Lipid Research Clinic as part of the Lipid Research Clinic's Coronary Primary Prevention Trial. Two hundred and sixty-eight men aged 42 to 68 years who had been previously randomized in the CPPT to cholestyramine or placebo and who had taken at least 75% of the prescribed study medication (6 packets or 24 gm/day) as determined by packet counts for the duration of the Coronary Primary Prevention Trial including the last 4 months of the trial were studied: one group (n = 124) received cholestyramine and the other group (n = 144) received a corresponding dose of placebo. Serum samples were obtained at the time of the final study visit in cholestyramine and placebo groups. (Results are reported as mean +/- SD in SI units). There were no differences in plasma levels of calcium (2.3 +/- 0.1 mmol/L vs 2.3 +/- 0.1 mmol/L), phosphorus (0.99 +/- 0.14 mmol/L vs 0.98 +/- 0.12 mmol/L), albumin (45 +/- 3 gm/L vs 46 +/- 0.6 gm/L), calcifediol (62.6 +/- 29.2 nmol/L vs 63.4 +/- 28.4), 25(OH)D2 (14 +/- 11 nmol/L vs 12 +/- 10 nmol/L) or calcitriol (99 +/- 190 pmol/L vs 91 +/- 56 pmol/L).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)