Blood levels of Vitamin D may affect liver cancer prognosis

Vitamin D deficiency is linked with advanced stages of liver cancer and may be an indicator of a poor prognosis, according to a study of 200 patients with the disease who were followed for an average of 46 weeks.

Blood levels of vitamin D negatively correlated with stages of the disease, and patients with severe vitamin D deficiency had more than a 2-fold increased risk of dying during the study, according to Dr. Oliver Waidmann, senior author of the Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics study.

More information:
Finkelmeier, F., Kronenberger, B., Köberle, V., Bojunga, J., Zeuzem, S., Trojan, J., Piiper, A. and Waidmann, O. (2014), Severe 25-hydroxyvitamin D deficiency identifies a poor prognosis in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma – a prospective cohort study. Alimentary Pharmacology & Therapeutics, 39: 1204–1212. doi: 10.1111/apt.12731

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