Tuesday, February 9, 2016
In an article published online on January 25, 2016 in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, researchers at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland document an association between higher serum vitamin D levels and an increased chance of surviving prostate cancer.
The current investigation included 1,000 participants in the Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention Study who were diagnosed with prostate cancer following enrollment. Three hundred sixty-three of the subjects died from their disease over 23 years of follow-up from the time of diagnosis. Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels and other factors were measured upon enrollment and questionnaires concerning diet and medical history were completed by all participants.
Among men whose vitamin D levels were among the top 20% of subjects, there was a 28% lower average adjusted risk of dying from prostate cancer compared to those whose levels were among the lowest 20%. The effect was stronger among those who survived more than 3.3 years.
Authors Alison Mondul and colleagues point out that previous studies that failed to find an association between vitamin D levels and prostate cancer mortality had small sample sizes, leading to uncertainty concerning whether the results were truly null. Other studies have examined vitamin D levels at the time of diagnosis or included only men with stage 4 disease, which ignores the fact that primary tumors and metastases can influence vitamin D status.
"Our findings that higher 25(OH)D reduces the most clinically relevant prostate cancer outcome, disease-specific mortality, if true, could have important public health implications, including whether vitamin D supplementation should be considered for men diagnosed with prostate cancer," the authors conclude. |
