Plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, vitamin D intake, and pancreatic cancer risk or mortality: a meta-analysis.
BACKGROUND
The associations between vitamin D status, including plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels and vitamin D intake, and pancreatic cancer risk and mortality are inconsistent. The aims of this study are to evaluate the antitumor and therapeutic effects of vitamin D status for pancreatic cancer patients.


METHODS
A literature search for relevant studies was conducted using PubMed and Embase databases. Risk ratio (RR), hazard ratio (HR), and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used as the effect measures. All statistical analyses were performed using Stata software 12.0.


RESULTS
Our results indicated that high plasma 25(OH)D levels were inversely associated with pancreatic cancer mortality without significant heterogeneity (HR=0.81, 95% CI=0.68-0.96). However, high plasma 25(OH)D levels could not reduce pancreatic cancer risk (RR=1.02, 95% CI=0.66-1.57). Moreover, vitamin D intake was also not associated with pancreatic cancer risk (RR=1.11, 95% CI=0.67-1.86).


CONCLUSIONS
Our results indicate that high plasma 25(OH)D levels were significantly associated with improved survival in pancreatic cancer patients. However, there were no significant associations between vitamin D intake or plasma 25(OH)D levels and pancreatic cancer risk.
['Zhang|Xi|X|', 'Huang|Xuan-Zhang|XZ|', 'Chen|Wen-Jun|WJ|', 'Wu|Jian|J|', 'Chen|You|Y|', 'Wu|Cong-Cong|CC|', 'Wang|Zhen-Ning|ZN|']
25-hydroxyvitamin D vitamin D pancreatic cancer risk mortality