Hasan N, Rafizadeh D, Gibson S, Kaakour D, Lee B, Khaleghi B, Yazdanpanah O, Rezazadeh Kalebasty A. Vitamin D deficiency in prostate cancer: Prevalence in a sun-rich climate and influence of androgen deprivation therapy. World J Clin Oncol 2025; 16(6): 108113 [DOI: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i6.108113]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Nazmul Hasan, MD, Doctor, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, 333 City Blvd W, Suite 400, Orange, CA 92868, United States. nhasan1@hs.uci.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Cohort Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Oncol. Jun 24, 2025; 16(6): 108113 Published online Jun 24, 2025. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v16.i6.108113
Vitamin D deficiency in prostate cancer: Prevalence in a sun-rich climate and influence of androgen deprivation therapy
Nazmul Hasan, Desiree Rafizadeh, Spencer Gibson, Dalia Kaakour, Benjamin Lee, Barbod Khaleghi, Omid Yazdanpanah, Arash Rezazadeh Kalebasty
Nazmul Hasan, Desiree Rafizadeh, Spencer Gibson, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA 92868, United States
Dalia Kaakour, Benjamin Lee, Barbod Khaleghi, Omid Yazdanpanah, Arash Rezazadeh Kalebasty, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, University of California, Irvine, Orange, CA 92868, United States
Author contributions: Hasan N designed the study, collected and analyzed data, and drafted the manuscript; Rafizadeh D collected and analyzed data; Lee B conducted statistical analysis; Gibson S, Kaakour D, and Khaleghi B contributed to manuscript revision and editing; Yazdanpanah O and Rezazadeh Kalebasty A supervised the study and provided guidance; All authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the University of California Irvine (IRB No. 5723).
Informed consent statement: This study was conducted as a retrospective chart review and was approved by the University of California, Irvine Institutional Review Board. A waiver of informed consent was granted due to the minimal-risk, retrospective nature of the study. No identifiable patient information was used in the analysis.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement—a checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-a checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The dataset used in this study is de-identified and available from the corresponding author at nhasan1@hs.uci.edu. Consent was not obtained, but the presented data are anonymized and the risk of identification is low.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Nazmul Hasan, MD, Doctor, Department of Medicine, University of California, Irvine, 333 City Blvd W, Suite 400, Orange, CA 92868, United States. nhasan1@hs.uci.edu
Received: April 7, 2025 Revised: April 22, 2025 Accepted: May 15, 2025 Published online: June 24, 2025 Processing time: 76 Days and 0.5 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Vitamin D deficiency has been associated with prostate cancer, particularly in ethnic minorities. Patients with prostate cancer may still be deficient even in areas of high sun exposure. Although androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is well documented to affect bone health, its impact on vitamin D levels is still uncertain. This study investigates the subgroups of prostate cancer patients most associated with vitamin D deficiency and ADT’s relation to this.
AIM
To examine how prevalent vitamin D deficiency is among prostate cancer patients in a sun-rich environment, with focus on differences by race and disease stage. It also assessed whether ADT is associated with changes in vitamin D levels.
METHODS
Prostate cancer patients treated at Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center between 2014-2024 were retrospectively studied with regards to vitamin D levels across racial groups, disease stages, and ADT exposure. Changes in vitamin D levels pre- and post-ADT over 24 months were assessed by statistical methods including paired t-tests.
RESULTS
Among 120 patients (mean age: 74 years, mean body mass index: 27.6 kg/m²), African American (33.3%) and Hispanic (31.8%) patients had the greatest prevalence of vitamin D deficiency (< 20 ng/mL). With a 28.6% deficit rate, metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer had the highest prevalence rates of deficiency. There was no significant difference between pre- and post-ADT vitamin D levels (P = 0.45).
CONCLUSION
Vitamin D deficiency is common in prostate cancer patients, especially racial minorities and those with advanced disease, despite residing in an area with high sun exposure. ADT does not significantly impact vitamin D levels in the short term. Routine screening and supplementation should be considered in these high-risk groups.
Core Tip: This retrospective study investigates the prevalence of vitamin D deficiency in prostate cancer patients who received treatment in Southern California, a region characterized by high annual sun exposure. It underscores the high deficiency rates among advanced-stage disease patients, as well as Hispanic and Black patients. The study also assesses the impact of androgen deprivation therapy on vitamin D and concludes that there is no substantial change in response to treatment. These results provide evidence for routine screening and supplementation of vitamin D, particularly in high-risk subgroups, and challenges the notion that sun exposure alone guarantees adequate vitamin D levels.
