Domestic Policy	Press release distributed by PR Newswire

 
 

Study Suggests Vitamin D Screening and Appropriate Supplementation Indicated for All Cancer Patients

    CHICAGO, June 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Vitamin D deficiency was
found to be prevalent in cancer patients regardless of nutritional status,
according to the results of a recent study conducted at Cancer Treatment
Centers of America (CTCA). Based on these results, CTCA researchers
determined that screening for vitamin D deficiency and aggressive vitamin D
repletion should be considered for all people with cancer.

    (Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20090612/CTCALOGO)

    "While emerging evidence suggests the protective role of vitamin D in
cancer, vitamin D status is not routinely assessed in cancer patients
despite the high prevalence of malnutrition in this population," said
Carolyn Lammersfeld, national director of nutrition for CTCA and a
principal investigator in the study.

    During the study, a consecutive case series of 737 cancer patients (302
male and 435 female) seen at CTCA between January - June 2008, were
assessed for nutritional status and categorizes into three distinct classes
of nutritional status: well nourished, moderately malnourished and severely
malnourished. The mean age at presentation was 55.7 years (SD = 10.2) and
the most common cancer types were lung (133, 18%), breast (131, 17.8%),
colorectal (97, 13.2%), pancreatic (86, 11.7%), prostate (44, 6%) and
ovarian (38, 5.2%).

    Before the study, the researchers hypothesized that malnutrition could
contribute to vitamin D deficiency and therefore expected mean serum
25-hydroxy-vitamin D [25(OH)D] levels to be significantly lower in
malnourished oncology patients. However contrary to what they expected,
vitamin D deficiency was found to be prevalent in cancer regardless of
nutritional status.

    This study was presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology
(ASCO) annual meeting, May 29-June 2, 2009, and was publicly released on
ASCO's Web site, http://www.asco.org, on May 14, 2009.

    About Cancer Treatment Centers of America

    Founded in 1988, Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) is a
national network of hospitals providing a comprehensive, fully integrative
approach to cancer treatment. CTCA serves patients with advanced cancer
from all 50 states at facilities located in suburban Chicago, Philadelphia,
Tulsa and suburban Phoenix. For more information about Cancer Treatment
Centers of America, go to cancercenter.com.