Prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in treatment-naive individual consecutive cancer patients

Abstract

Background: There is a lack of information regarding Vitamin D deficiency in treatment-naive cancer patients. Aim: The aim of this was to study the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency in cancer patients. Objectives: The objective was to measure the extent of Vitamin D insufficiency and deficiency in treatment-naive consecutive individual cancer patients from Eastern India. Materials and Methods: All consecutive new patients seen between April 2019 and September 2019 were offered a baseline test to measure serum 25-hydroxy Vitamin D [25 (OH) D] levels along with routine investigations. Vitamin D insufficiency was diagnosed when serum 25 (OH) D level was between 20 and 30 ng/mL, whereas patients with a level 50 years) population was 73% and 61% (P = 0.144); while that in solid versus hematolymphoid malignancies was 69% versus 58% (P = 0.173). In the three most common tumors, namely breast (21%), colorectal (8%), and ovary (8%), Vitamin D deficiency was noted in 75% of patients in each group. Vitamin D deficiency was the highest (84%) in esophageal and stomach cancer patients. Conclusion: More than two-thirds of Indian cancer patients are Vitamin D deficient. Patients with upper gastrointestinal, breast, colorectal, and ovarian cancers and female patients are the most vulnerable groups.

Keywords

• cancer
• nutrition
• vitamin d deficiency
• vitamin d supplementation
• vit d