Trial reportJournal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN2020
Vitamin K Supplementation to Improve Vascular Stiffness in CKD: The K4Kidneys Randomized Controlled Trial.
Trial report in Journal of the American Society of Nephrology : JASN, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 64 citations in OpenAlex.
- Assessment and management of vitamin status in children with CKD stages 2-5, on dialysis and post-transplantation: clinical practice points from the Pediatric Renal Nutrition Taskforce.Pediatric nephrology (Berlin, Germany) · 2024Guideline
- The effect of vitamin K supplementation on cardiovascular risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of nutritional science · 2024Pooled it
- Vitamin K supplementation and vascular calcification: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in nutrition · 2023Pooled it
- Effects of vitamin K supplementation on vascular calcification in chronic kidney disease: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.Frontiers in nutrition · 2022Pooled it
- The Effects of Vitamin K2 on Recovery from Muscle-Damaging Resistance Exercise in Young and Older Adults: The TAKEOVER Randomized Controlled Trial.Medicine and science in sports and exercise · 2026Trial
- Effect of Menaquinone-7 Supplementation on Arterial Stiffness in Chronic Hemodialysis Patients: A Multicenter Randomized Controlled Trial.Nutrients · 2023Trial
- Inhibit progression of coronary artery calcification with vitamin K in hemodialysis patients (the iPACK-HD study): a randomized, placebo-controlled multi-center, pilot trial.Nephrology, dialysis, transplantation : official publication of the European Dialysis and Transplant Association - European Renal Association · 2023Trial
- Vitamin K and vascular calcification: from biological plausibility to clinical realism.Clinical kidney journal · 2026Review
- Article
- Calcific Aortopathy in Response to Aging and Injury.Circulation · 2026Review
- Article
- Valvular calcification in chronic kidney disease: new insights from recent clinical and preclinical studies.Clinical kidney journal · 2025Article
- Vitamin K for Vascular Calcification in Kidney Patients: Still Alive and Kicking, but Still a Lot to Learn.Nutrients · 2024Review
- Vitamin K2 in Health and Disease: A Clinical Perspective.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Revisiting the interconnection between lipids and vitamin K metabolism: insights from recent research and potential therapeutic implications: a review.Nutrition & metabolism · 2024Review
- The role of vitamin K2 in cognitive impairment: linking vascular health to brain health.Frontiers in aging neuroscience · 2024Review
- Inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor type 2 is associated with the bone-vessel axis in chronic kidney disease-mineral bone disorder.Renal failure · 2023Article
- Vitamin K supplementation impact in dialysis patients: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized trials.Clinical kidney journal · 2023Article
- Regulatory effects of nutritional and metabolic disorders on vascular calcification in chronic kidney disease: a narrative review.Annals of translational medicine · 2023Review
- Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial of the Effect of Treatment with Vitamin K2 on Vascular Calcification in Hemodialysis Patients (Trevasc-HDK).Kidney international reports · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
21 authors at 5 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundVascular calcification, a risk factor for cardiovascular disease, is common among patients with CKD and is an independent contributor to increased vascular stiffness and vascular risk in this patient group. Vitamin K is a cofactor for proteins involved in prevention of vascular calcification. Whether or not vitamin K supplementation could improve arterial stiffness in patients with CKD is unknown.
methodsTo determine if vitamin K supplementation might improve arterial stiffness in patients in CKD, we conducted a parallel-group, double-blind, randomized trial in participants aged 18 or older with CKD stage 3b or 4 (eGFR 15-45 ml/min per 1.73 m
resultsWe included 159 randomized participants in the modified intention-to-treat analysis, with 80 allocated to receive vitamin K and 79 to receive placebo. Mean age was 66 years, 62 (39%) were female, and 87 (55%) had CKD stage 4. We found no differences in pulse wave velocity at 12 months, augmentation index at 12 months, BP, B-type natriuretic peptide, or physical function. The updated meta-analysis showed no effect of vitamin K supplementation on vascular stiffness or vascular calcification measures.
conclusionsVitamin K2 supplementation did not improve vascular stiffness or other measures of vascular health in this trial involving individuals with CKD. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRY NAME AND REGISTRATION NUMBER: Vitamin K therapy to improve vascular health in patients with chronic kidney disease, ISRCTN21444964 (www.isrctn.com).
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.