ROCHESTER, N.Y. – A new study has linked low vitamin D to bad prognosis of non-Hodgkin lymphomas.
The research, done at The Wilmot Cancer Institute, identifies a link between the lack of vitamin D and this type of cancer.
Findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.
It has been established that vitamin D is linked to several types of cancer, and that is an active research topic. Studies have shown a better survival rate among patients with sufficient levels of the vitamin in their bloodstream.
Earlier Wilmot research has shown low vitamin D levels among breast cancer patients also correlated with more-aggressive tumors and poorer prognosis; and that vitamin D deficiency among African Americans might help to explain higher death rates from colorectal cancer.
For the study in non-Hodgkin lymphoma researchers observed 423 follicular lymphoma patients in two independent studies over five and a half years, measuring patient vitamin D blood levels before treatment and through it. They then tracked and analyzed the cancer survival rates.
They are saying future research might support prescribing vitamin D supplements for patients at the earliest point of follicular lymphoma treatment.