Association Between Alterations in the Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Status During Follow-Up and Breast Cancer Patient Prognosis

Abstract

<b>Background:</b> Serum vitamin D status can affect the prognosis of breast cancer patients. Our aim was todetermine the association between alterations in the 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] status during follow-upand the prognosis of breast cancer patients. Additionally, we evaluated the association between the 25(OH)Dstatus at the time of diagnosis and the prognosis using a detailed age and stage categorization. Materials and<br/><b>Methods</b>: Four hundred and sixty-nine Korean breast cancer patients were included. We collected patientclinicopathological data, including their serum 25(OH)D concentration at diagnosis and at the annual followupuntil 4 years after diagnosis. The patients were divided according to their 25(OH)D status at diagnosis intoa deficient (<20 ng/ml) and a non-deficient (≥20 ng/ml) group. At follow-up, patients were categorized into thefour following groups according to 25(OH)D status alterations: persistently deficient, improved, deterioratedand persistently non-deficient. <br/><b>Results</b>: At diagnosis, 118 patients were classified into the deficient group and 351into the non-deficient group. After a median follow-up period of 85.8±31.0 months, the patients with advancedstagedisease or an older age in the non-deficient group showed a significantly better survival compared with thedeficient group. Furthermore, at the 1-year follow-up of 25(OH)D status, the persistently non-deficient group andthe improved group had better survival compared with the other two groups. <br/><b>Conclusions</b>: Our results suggestthat maintaining an optimal 25(OH)D status at diagnosis and during the 1-year follow-up period is importantfor improving breast cancer patient survival.