Vitamin D Intake and Risk of Skin Cancer in US Women and Men

Abstract

Previous studies suggested a protective effect of vitamin D against skin cancer development. However, epidemiologic studies on orally taken vitamin D and risk of skin cancer (basal cell carcinoma [BCC], squamous cell carcinoma [SCC], and melanoma) are few. We prospectively evaluated whether total, dietary and supplemental vitamin D intake were associated with skin cancer risk based on 63,760 women in the Nurses' Health Study (1984-2010) and 41,530 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986-2010). Dietary information on vitamin D intake was assessed every 2 to 4 years during the follow-up and cumulative averaged intake was used. We used Cox proportional hazard models to compute the hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). Pooled HR of cohort-specific results were calculated using a random-effects model. During the follow-up, we documented 20,840 BCC, 2,329 SCC and 1,320 melanoma cases. Vitamin D consumption was not associated with the risk of SCC or melanoma but was modestly positively associated with BCC; the pooled HRs of BCC for extreme quintiles of vitamin D intake were 1.10 (95%CI = 1.05-1.15; Ptrend = 0.05) for total vitamin D and 1.13 (95% CI = 1.07 to 1.20; Ptrend <0.01) for dietary vitamin D. Stratified analysis according to sun exposure related factors showed similar results. In conclusion, vitamin D intake was positively associated with risk of BCC, while null associations were found with SCC and melanoma. Our data do not support a beneficial role of orally taken vitamin D on skin cancer carcinogenesis.