Colorectal cancerTreatment

Survival after diagnosis of colorectal cancer is higher for those with higher serum 25(OH)D levels.

Based on post-diagnosis predicted 25(OH)D levels on mortality among 1017 participants in the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study who were diagnosed with colorectal cancer from 1986 to 2004 with levels in the lowest quintile, participants with predicted 25(OH)D levels in the highest quintile (31.0 ng/mL (range 29.7 ng/mL –34.9 ng/mL) had an adjusted hazard raio of 0.50 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.26-0.95) for cancer-specific mortality and 0.62 (95% CI, 0.42-0.93) for overall mortality compared to those in the lowest quintile (23.3 ng/mL (range 19.1 ng/mL – 24.8 ng/mL)1. This paper extended the results reported earlier2.

A similar study in Japan with about one-third as many cases as the Ng. et al1 study found a beneficial effect for rectal cancer but not colon cancer3. 

A study in the United States found that vitamin D deficiency explained 40% of the disparity in colorectal cancer survival between black and white Americans4.

Page last edited: 22 August 2011

References

  1. Ng, K. Wolpin, B. M. Meyerhardt, J. A. Wu, K. Chan, A. T. Hollis, B. W. Giovannucci, E. L. Stampfer, M. J. Willett, W. C. Fuchs, C. S. Prospective study of predictors of vitamin D status and survival in patients with colorectal cancer. Br J Cancer. 2009 Sep 15; 101 (6): 916-23.
  2. Ng, K. Meyerhardt, J. A. Wu, K. Feskanich, D. Hollis, B. W. Giovannucci, E. L. Fuchs, C. S. Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin d levels and survival in patients with colorectal cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2008 Jun 20; 26 (18): 2984-91.
  3. Otani, T. Iwasaki, M. Sasazuki, S. Inoue, M. Tsugane, S. Plasma vitamin D and risk of colorectal cancer: the Japan Public Health Center-Based Prospective Study. Br J Cancer. 2007 Aug 6; 97 (3): 446-51.
  4. Fiscella, K. Winters, P. Tancredi, D. Franks, P. Racial Disparity in Blood Pressure: is Vitamin D a Factor?. Journal of general internal medicine. 2011 Apr 21;