Death due to breast cancer reduced 40 percent if high vitamin D – meta-analysis

Vitamin D intake, blood 25(OH)D levels, and breast cancer risk or mortality: a meta-analysis

British Journal of Cancer , (8 April 2014) | doi:10.1038/bjc.2014.175

Y Kim and Y Je

Background: Experimental studies suggest potential anti-carcinogenic properties of vitamin D against breast cancer risk, but the epidemiological evidence to date is inconsistent.

Methods: We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE databases along with a hand search for eligible studies to examine the association between vitamin D status (based on diet and blood 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D)) and breast cancer risk or mortality in a meta-analysis. A random-effect model was used to calculate a pooled adjusted relative risk (RR).

Results: A total of 30 prospective studies (nested case-control or cohort) were included for breast cancer incidence (n=24 studies; 31 867 cases) or mortality (n=6 studies; 870 deaths) among 6092 breast cancer patients. The pooled RRs of breast cancer incidence for the highest vs the lowest vitamin D intake and blood 25(OH)D levels were 0.95 (95% CI: 0.88–1.01) and 0.92 (95% CI: 0.83–1.02), respectively.

Among breast cancer patients, high blood 25(OH)D levels were significantly associated with

• lower breast cancer mortality (pooled RR=0.58, 95% CI: 0.40–0.85) and

• overall mortality (pooled RR=0.61, 95% CI: 0.48–0.79).

There was no evidence of heterogeneity and publication bias.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that high vitamin D status is weakly associated with low breast cancer risk but strongly associated with better breast cancer survival.

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Studies in all 3 categories: Breast Cancer, Meta-analysis and Mortality

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Pages listed in Vitamin D Life for BOTH Breast Cancer AND Meta-analysis

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