Evaluation of Vitamin D in Breast Cancer in a Tertiary Care Hospital

Abstract

Introduction: Vitamin D has been implicated to play a very important role in different types of cancers due to its pleotropic effects such as cell proliferation, cell differentiation, apoptosis etc. The implications of vitamin D deficiency are more evident in breast, prostate and colorectal cancer. Studies have revealed vitamin D supplementation reduces the risk of Breast cancer. Aim: The main objective of our study was to find out whether low serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D levels was associated with breast cancer. Materials and Methods: Study group included 25 diagnosed cases of breast cancer. Equal number of age and sex matched healthy persons were included in the control group. Serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D was estimated by electrochemiluminiscence immunoassay. Results: Mean vitamin D levels were low in breast cancer patients, when compared to controls (p-value < 0.05),which shows that low vitamin D levels are associated with increased risk of breast cancer. Conclusion: Our study showed that low levels of vitamin D are associated with breast cancer when compared to apparently healthy controls. Estimation of serum vitamin D in patients with breast cancer might help in the early diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer.

Keywords

• Colorectal cancer
• Supplementation
• Vitamin D deficiency