Vitamin D serum levels and non-melanoma skin cancer risk

PeerJ

article

Jesús Pérez-Rey¹  Purificación Rey-Sánchez²  Francisco José Rodríguez-Velasco³  Carolina Morgado-Águila⁴  Guadalupe Gil-Fernández³  Orlando Rafael Dávila-Villalobos⁵ 

[1] Department of Public Health, Extremadura Health Service, Extremadura Health Service;Department of Nursing, Faculty of Nursing and Occupational Therapy, University of Extremadura;Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, University of Extremadura;Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Cáceres University Hospital Complex, Extremadura Health Service;Department of Gynecology and Obstetrics, Cáceres University Hospital Complex, Extremadura Health Service

关键词: Basal cell carcinoma;    Skin cancers;    Squamous cell neoplasms;    Vitamin D3;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.12234

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundSkin cancer is one of the common malignancies. There is sufficient evidence that sunlight (ultraviolet radiation) contributes to the development of skin cancer, but there is also evidence that relates adequate serum levels of vitamin D produced on the skin by the action of ultraviolet radiation with the decreased risk of various types of cancers, including skin cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of vitamin D serum levels among patients with non-melanoma skin cancers (basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma) and controls.MethodsA prospective observational case-control study was conducted in a sample of 84 subjects in Extremadura (Spain). Forty-one patients with histologically diagnosed basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas and 43 healthy controls were randomly chosen to assess whether vitamin D (25(OH)D3) serum level, age and sex were related to non-melanoma skin cancer and to determine the possible risk of this type of skin cancer for these variables.ResultsWhen analysing serum vitamin D levels, we ensured that all our subjects, both cases and controls, had normal or low serum vitamin D levels, even though the samples were taken during months with the highest solar irradiance in our region. It is striking in our results that there was a higher percentage of subjects with deficits of vitamin D who did not have skin cancer (66%) than patients with deficits with these types of skin cancers (34%). When adjusting the model for age and sex, vitamin D values above 18 ng/ml increased the risk of suffering from non-melanoma skin cancer by nearly 7-fold (aOR: 6.94, 95% CI [1.55–31.11], p = 0.01).ConclusionsDespite the controversial data obtained in the literature, our results suggest that lower levels of vitamin D may be related to a reduced incidence of non-melanoma skin cancer.

【 授权许可】

CC BY