Serum vitamin D lower in melanoma patients

Serum levels of vitamin D appear to be reduced among patients with melanoma and are associated with thicker melanomas and higher mitotic rates, a recent study has found.

The researchers conducted an observational, cross-sectional study including 154 patients (mean age at diagnosis, 59.7±15.5 years; 50.6 percent men) who had been diagnosed with melanoma between 2016 and 2019. Pertinent information, such as vitamin D levels, tumour characteristics, and sociodemographic factors, were retrospectively collected from patient files.

The primary endpoint was the impact of serum vitamin D levels on the development of melanoma. A parallel nonmelanoma control group was enrolled for comparison. At the time of diagnosis, almost half (49.4 percent) of participants were vitamin D deficient, as opposed to only 19.2 percent among controls (p<0.000001).

Statistical analysis showed that having serum vitamin D levels >20 ng/mL was correlated with a nearly 80-percent lower odds of developing melanoma (odds ratio [OR], 0.24, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.14–0.42). Similar findings were obtained when comparting patients with deficient (<20 ng/mL) vs those with desirable (>30 ng/mL) levels (OR, 0.11, 95 percent CI, 0.06–0.22; p<0.0001).

In terms of clinical prognostic factors, vitamin D levels were significantly lower in patients with thick tumours (p=0.0154) and mitotic activity (p=0.0007). In particular, mitotic activity was detected in 65.3 percent of patients with deficient vitamin D levels, as opposed to only 38.1 percent in those with desirable concentrations.

“Optimal levels of vitamin D are a mirror of a healthy lifestyle and, therefore, could simply represent a surrogate marker for other protective factors against the development of malignancies,” the researchers said. “In the future, it may be interesting to carry out new case-control studies, designed on a larger population, aimed at analysing risk factors for melanoma and their relationship with vitamin D.”