Effect of serum vitamin D deficiency in the prevalence of haematological malignancies Gorle Rama Mani1, Kumar Munta Anil2,*, Ayyagari Santa3 1Head and Consultant, Dept. of Clinical Biochemistry, ELBIT Medical Diagnostics Pvt. Limited, Hyderabad, Telangana 2Associate Professor, Dept. of Biochemistry, Maharajah's Institute of Medical Sciences, Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh 3Sr. Consultant Medical Oncologist, Basavatarakam Indo-American Cancer Institute and Research Centre, Hyderabad, Telangana, India *Corresponding Author: Email: drmakbio@gmail.com
Online published on 2 January, 2019. Abstract Introduction The awareness on vitamin D related metabolic activities have drawn attention in the recent times. The studies reported vitamin D deficiency may result in the progression of malignancies.1, 2 Being a tropical country, 80% of the Indians are found to be vitamin D deficient and thus the evaluation of serum vitamin D deficiency helps in understanding its risk association in haematological malignancies.3, 4 Materials and Methods The study comprised of 250 haematological malignancy cases and 250 age and sex matched healthy controls. The diagnosis was confirmed by blood, bone marrow or lymph node biopsies. Serum vitamin D levels were analysed by Electrochemiluminescence Immunoassay (ECLIA) method and statistical analysis was done by using Medcalc 11.6. The data were expressed as mean ± SD and the risk association of vitamin D deficiency and comparison in the experimental groups was done by using the odds ratio (OR) and odds relative risk ratio (RR). Results Among the 250 haematological cases, 185(74.0%) showed low serum vitamin D levels, whereas controls had comparatively lesser deficiency rate (60%). Despite significant vitamin D deficiency of control group, haematological malignancies showed highly significant risk association towards the disease occurrence (OR=1.90; t-test =0.0026). Conclusion Low serum vitamin D levels were significantly associated with haematological malignancies. Additional population based studies are required to evolve therapeutic strategies and treatment protocols for the risk reduction and management of malignancies. Top Keywords Vitamin D, Deficiency, Tropical countries, Haematological, Malignancy. Top |