Examining the association of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D with kidney cancer risk: a meta-analysis

To examine the relationship between circulating 25-hydroxy-vitamin D (25 (OH) D) and risk of kidney cancer.

We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science databases through August 31, 2015 for eligible studies. Pooled ORs with 95% confidence interval were calculated using fixed effect models. All data analyses were performed with STATA version 12.0.

The final analysis included 2 prospective cohort studies and 7 nested case-control studies, with a total of 130, 609 participants and 1, 815 cases of kidney cancer. No obvious heterogeneity was observed between individual studies. The results of this study revealed that higher circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels were associated with lower risk of kidney cancer (OR=0.79, 95% CI 0.69-0.91; P value for heterogeneity: 0.61, I(2)=0%). After stratified by geographical region, the similar association was detected in European studies (OR=0.81, 95% CI 0.69-0.94; P value for heterogeneity: 0.38, I(2)=0%), though no significant association was observed in the USA studies (OR=0.73, 95% CI 0.51-1.04; P value for heterogeneity: 0.44, I(2)=0%).

Our present findings suggest that higher levels of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D could reduce the risk of kidney cancer by 21%. Further well-designed large-scaled prospective studies and randomized controlled trials are warranted to provide more conclusive evidence.