Adolescent dietary vitamin D and sun exposure in relation to benign breast disease

The Association between Vitamin D Deficiency and Fibrocystic Breast Disorder

BACKGROUND

The role of deficiency of vitamin D in a wide range of human cancer, including breast cancer, has been proven, but its role in benign breast diseases remains unknown. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in patients with fibrocystic breast (FB) disease.

METHODS

First, the hospital prevalence of fibrocystic breast was determined by a crosssectional study. Then, patients were divided into two groups by a case-control study; women with confirmed fibrocystic breasts based on breast pain, physical examination, and ultrasonography were included as a case group (N=48), and age-matched women without fibrocystic breasts were also included as a control group (N=48). After recording the demographic and gynecological characteristics and exposure to the sun, gynecological records, and family history of fibrocystic breast, the blood sample was taken to determine vitamin D. Data were analyzed by Stata software.

RESULTS

The result indicated that the studied groups had significant differences in regards to weight, breast pain, the severity of breast pain, breast heaviness, family history of fibrocystic breast, history of breast disease, caffeine consumption, and exposure to sunlight (p <0.05), but did not show significant differences based on age, occupation, education, gynecological history, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, obesity and hypothyroidism, vegetable, fast food, and dairy products consumption. The frequency of vitamin D deficiency in the case group was 45.8%, and in the control group, it was 20.8%, and there was a statistically significant difference (p <0.05).

CONCLUSION

Vitamin D deficiency is more common in women with fibrocystic breast disease and may play a role in the development of the disease.

Vitamin D status among the juvenile population: A retrospective study

Vitamin D deficiency is a clinical problem and recently we have shown that 82.5% of our entire study cohort had inadequate serum 25(OH)D levels. In this study, we analysed serum 25(OH)D levels of juvenile patients admitted to the Burjeel Hospital of VPS Health care in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE) from October 2012 to September 2014. Out of a total of 7883 juvenile patients considered in this study, almost 58.1% of females and 43.3% of males in the age group of 1-18 years were found to have low serum 25(OH)D levels (<50nmol/L). According to the coefficient of variation, females had significantly higher variability among juveniles (63.8%) than males (49.9%). Among the juveniles group of patients, age appears to be an important determining factor for defining vitamin D deficiency.The risk of deficiency (<30nmol/L) was found to be present in 31.4% of patients in the age group of 10-12 years, followed by 50.4% of patients in the age group of 13-15 years and 52.9% of patients in the age group of 16-18 years. The analysed age groups of females were found to have lower levels of 25(OH)D than males. It is important and perhaps alarming to note that such high rate of vitamin D deficiency is present in the juvenile age.

The Correlation of Plasma 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Deficiency With Risk of Breast Neoplasms: A Systematic Review

CONTEXT

Breast cancer has been considered as one of the most common types of cancer among the women worldwide, and patients with breast neoplasms have been reported with high prevalence of low serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels.

OBJECTIVES

Our aim was to evaluate the correlation of plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency with breast neoplasms risk among women.

DATA SOURCES

PubMed database was searched with MeSH (medical subject headings) keywords "vitamin D AND breast neoplasms" which was restricted by original articles written only in English and published from January 1, 2014.

STUDY SELECTION

To find the articles that met eligibility criteria, titles and abstracts were examined.

DATA EXTRACTION

This systematic review was conducted according to PRISMA (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses) statement. Critical appraising of evidence was performed, using the study quality assessment tools of national institutes of health, national heart, lung and blood institute (NHLBI).

RESULTS

Overall, 76 potential articles were identified and after screening, 13 articles met eligible criteria for inclusion. Definition of low vitamin D levels varied greatly among studies, making comparisons difficult, but most of them have defined deficiency as 25(OH)D < 20 ng/mL. Evidence was mainly of fair quality.

CONCLUSIONS

This study has provided evidence that vitamin D deficiency has been very prevalent in patients with breast neoplasms, more than comparable matched control population, and risk of breast cancer has increased with low vitamin D levels, suggesting the need for high quality studies that assessed the health consequences attributable to vitamin D deficiency employing standard definitions.