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Low Vitamin D Status in a Cancer Patient Population from Franconia, Germany
Rainer Johannes Klement1, Petra S Koebrunner2, Kelley Krage2
1Department of Radiation Oncology, Leopoldina Hospital, Schweinfurt, Germany, rainer_klement@gmx.de.
Background:
Vitamin D has been shown to be associated with reduced risk and severity of COVID-19 and exerts regulating effects on all hallmarks of cancer. The goal of this study was to analyze the vitamin D status of a cancer patient cohort from our clinic in the Franconian region, Germany.
Methods:
25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations were available for 116 patients included in prospective trials in our clinic. Associations of vitamin D with anthropometric and blood parameters were investigated using Kendall's τ correlation coefficients and linear regression.
Results:
A total of 57 patients (49.1%) were vitamin D deficient (<20 ng/mL), and 92.2% did not meet the recommended vitamin D level of 40 ng/mL. There was a strong negative association between vitamin D and leukocyte count (τ = -0.173, p = 0.007) and C-reactive protein concentration (τ = -0.172, p = 0.007). In linear regression, the most important variables for predicting vitamin D levels were (in order of decreasing importance) season, fat mass index, platelet, and leukocyte count.
Conclusions:
Despite appeals towards medical societies to target widespread vitamin D deficiency in Germany more than 10 years ago, our data indicate that these have been without avail. Low vitamin D levels in cancer patients should be corrected using reasonable sun exposure and supplements.