Correlates of Circulating 25-Hydroxyvitamin D: Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers

Abstract

Low vitamin D status is common globally and is associated with multiple disease outcomes. Understanding the correlates of vitamin D status will help guide clinical practice, research, and interpretation of studies. Correlates of circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) concentrations measured in a single laboratory were examined in 4,723 cancer-free men and women from 10 cohorts participating in the Cohort Consortium Vitamin D Pooling Project of Rarer Cancers, which covers a worldwide geographic area. Demographic and lifestyle characteristics were examined in relation to 25(OH)D using stepwise linear regression and polytomous logistic regression. The prevalence of 25(OH)D concentrations less than 25 nmol/L ranged from 3% to 36% across cohorts, and the prevalence of 25(OH)D concentrations less than 50 nmol/L ranged from 29% to 82%. Seasonal differences in circulating 25(OH)D were most marked among whites from northern latitudes. Statistically significant positive correlates of 25(OH)D included male sex, summer blood draw, vigorous physical activity, vitamin D intake, fish intake, multivitamin use, and calcium supplement use. Significant inverse correlates were body mass index, winter and spring blood draw, history of diabetes, sedentary behavior, smoking, and black race/ethnicity. Correlates varied somewhat within season, race/ethnicity, and sex. These findings help identify persons at risk for low vitamin D status for both clinical and research purposes.

Hypovitaminosis D and Associated Risk Factors in Postmenopausal Women

“…A significant negative correlation was found between 25(OH)D and age in our patients, in agreement with the literature [20]- [22]. Significant associations were also observed with menopause extension, BMD and BMI, according to other authors' reports [23]- [26]. However, after age adjustment, in our sample no association was found among vitamin D levels and hip BMD, and only the association between 25(OH)D and BMI remained significant.…”

Lifestyle and Other Factors Explain One-Half of the Variability in the Serum 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Response to Cholecalciferol Supplementation in Healthy Adults

“…5 Sex-specific quartiles were used in nutrition analyses. 6 Cutoffs for quartiles-men: 0.6, 1.0, and 1.7; women: 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5. concentrations in our study, whereas the evidence from other studies is mixed (15,(55)(56)(57)(58)(59). Surprisingly, we found that sunscreen use was associated with slightly higher serum 25(OH)D concentrations; this may be because individuals who regularly use sunscreen have greater sun exposure, but may use sunscreen ineffectively (7,60).…”

Vitamin D levels in a large Mediterranean cohort: reconsidering normal cut-off values

“…139 Excessive alcohol consumption is linked to lower 25-(OH)D concentrations, 140 but moderate intake is consistently reported to relate to better VitD status. 30,67,131,141,142 Strengths of our study include the large number of subjects for whom 25-(OH)D measurements were available and the wide age distribution, which lead us to consider our cohort as being representative of the general population of a Mediterranean island. The inherent limitations of our work lie in its retrospective design and the mixed population studied (in-and outpatients), although no significant differences between the two groups were found.…”