Circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration in German cancer patients.

The serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration was measured in 20 patients with prostatic carcinoma, compared to 75 subjects with prostatic hyperplasia, in 24 male and 17 female patients with melanoma, in 26 female patients with breast cancer, 7 patients with ovarian carcinoma and 3 patients with cervix carcinoma among subjects followed in a German polyclinical centre. In >50% of these 174 subjects, 25(OH)D concentration was < 20 microg/l. In most subject groups, a seasonal decrease of 25(OH)D concentration was observed during the winter period. An age-related decrease in such a concentration was also observed in subjects with prostatic hyperplasia examined in the late summer/early autumn period and in female cancer subjects, at the exclusion of patients with breast cancer. In the latter patients, however, a positive correlation prevailed between age and 25(OH)D concentration. Hence, it is proposed that an abnormally low serum 25(OH)D concentration represents a preferential risk factor, in middle-aged women, for breast cancer, as compared to other neoplasic manifestations in female subjects.