Is the Insufficiency of Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Associated with Prostate Cancer in Middle-Aged and Elderly Men?

Background: Serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (Vitamin D) has been linked to cancers. However, little information is available on whether vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency is associated with diagnosed prostate cancer (DPC) in middle-aged and elderly men.

Design and Methods: Data of 4,589 men aged ≥ 40 years were collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2006, using stratified multistage sampling design. Vitamin D was categorized as “deficient” if serum levels of vitamin D≤ 20 ng/ml and “insufficient” if between 20 and 30 ng/ml. The odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were estimated by conducting weighted logistic models to examine the associations of vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency with DPC.

Results: Among studied men, the rate of DPC was 4.2%; 46.7% were vitamin D deficient and 39.9% were vitamin D insufficient. Relative to other racial/ethnic groups, Hispanics were over-represented among men with vitamin D insufficiency (19.8%, 95% CI: 18.0-21.7), and both Hispanics (23.7%, 95% CI: 21.9-25.5) and non-Hispanic blacks (32.7%, 95% CI: 30.7-34.7) were over-represented among men with vitamin D deficiency . Men with vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency have higher average body mass index than normal men (28.9 and 28.2 kg/m2 vs 27.1 kg/m2, p<.0001). After adjustment for potential confounding factors, vitamin D deficiency and insufficiency were not found to be significantly associated with DPC.

Conclusions: Vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency did not appear to be significantly associated with DPC. This may highlight needs for further investigation of whether vitamin deficiency/insufficiency is related to the stage/severity of DPC.