Vitamin D supplementation for the prevention of total cancer incidence and mortality: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis

Huzaifa Ahmad Cheema; Maurish Fatima; Abia Shahid; Oumnia Bouaddi; Anas Elgenidy; Aqeeb Ur Rehman; Salah Eddine Oussama Kacimi; Mohammad Mehedi Hasan; Ka Yiu Lee

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11290

Vitamin D supplementation for the prevention of total cancer incidence and mortality: An updated systematic review and meta-analysis

Heliyon. 2022 Oct 28;8(11):e11290. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2022.e11290. eCollection 2022 Nov.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Oncology, King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Pakistan.
² Department of Medicine, King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Pakistan.
³ International School of Public Health, Mohammed VI University of Health Sciences, Casablanca, Morocco.
⁴ Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt.
⁵ Faculty of Medicine, Abou-Bekr Belkaid University of Tlemcen, Tlemcen, Algeria.
⁶ Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Life Science, Mawlana Bhashani Science and Technology University, Tangail, Bangladesh.
⁷ Swedish Winter Sports Research Centre, Department of Health Sciences, Mid Sweden University, Östersund, Sweden.

Abstract

Introduction: Previous randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses of RCTs evaluating vitamin D supplementation for the prevention of cancer incidence and mortality have found inconsistent results and no meta-analysis has assessed the quality of the evidence available. We, therefore, aimed to perform an updated meta-analysis by including recent large-scale RCTs and assessing the quality of the pooled evidence.

Methods: We searched several databases and trial registers from inception to April 2022. We used a random-effects model to estimate pooled risk ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). We used the Grades of Recommendation, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) considerations to evaluate the certainty of evidence.

Results: We included 13 RCTs in our study. Vitamin D supplementation had no effect on the risk of total cancer incidence (RR 0.99, 95% CI: 0.94-1.04; I ² = 0%), total cancer mortality (RR 0.93, 95% CI: 0.84-1.03; I ² = 24%) and total mortality (RR 0.92, 95% CI: 0.82-1.04; I ² = 36%). The overall quality of evidence was high for all outcomes.

Discussion: Vitamin D supplementation is ineffective in reducing total cancer incidence and mortality in largely vitamin D-replete older adult populations. Future research should be based on populations with a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency and should involve more extended follow-up periods.

Study protocol: PROSPERO database, CRD42021285401.

Keywords: Cancer incidence; Cancer mortality; Meta-analysis; Vitamin D supplements.