Association of Vitamin D Level with Clinicopathological Features in Breast Cancer

Abstract

A population-based relationship between low vitamin D status and increased cancer risk is now generallyaccepted. However there were only few studies reported on prognostic impact. To determine the effect of lowvitamin D on progression of breast cancer, we conducted a cross-sectional analysis of vitamin D levels and clinicopathologicalcharacteristics in 200 cases of breast cancer diagnosed during 2011-2012 at the National CancerInstitute of Thailand. Vitamin D levels were measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Clinical and pathological data were accessed to examine prognostic effects of vitamin D. We found that themean vitamin D level was 23.0±6.61 ng/ml. High vitamin D levels (≥32 ng/ml) were detected in 7% of patients,. low levels (<32 ng/ml) in 93% Mean vitamin D levels for stages 1-4 were 26.1±6.35, 22.3±6.34, 22.2±6.46 and21.3±5.42 ng/ml respectively (P=0.016) and 24.1 and 21.3 ng/ml for lymph node negative and positive cases(P=0.006). Low vitamin D level (<32 ng/ml) was significantly found in majority of cases with advanced stage ofthe disease (P=0.036), positive node involvement (P=0.030) and large tumors (P=0.038). Our findings suggestthat low and decreased level of vitamin D might correlate with progression and metastasis of breast cancer.