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Minerals, trace elements, Vit. D and bone health

Plasma 25-hydroxy vitamin D and subsequent prostate cancer risk in a nested Case-Control study in Japan: The JPHC study

European Journal of Clinical Nutrition volume 71, pages 132–136 (2017)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

Background/Objectives:

Although vitamin D has been experimentally reported to inhibit tumorigenesis, cell growth and prostate cancer invasion, epidemiologic data regarding prostate cancer risk are inconsistent, and some studies have suggested positive but nonsignificant associations. Further, the impact of vitamin D on prostate cancer between Western and Japanese populations may differ due to different plasma vitamin D levels.

Subjects/Methods:

We performed a nested case–control study within the Japan Public Health Center–based Prospective (JPHC) Study in 14,203 men (40–69 years) who answered a self-administered questionnaire at baseline (1990–1994) and gave blood samples, and were followed until 2005. We identified 201 prostate cancers which are newly diagnosed during follow-up (mean 12.8 years). We selected two matched controls for each case from the cohort. We used a conditional logistic regression model to estimate the odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for prostate cancer with respect to levels of 25-hydroxy vitamin D (25(OH)D) in plasma.

Results:

We did not observe statistically significant association between 25(OH)D level and total prostate cancer (multivariate OR=1.13 (95%CI=0.66–1.94, Ptrend=0.94) for the highest versus lowest tertile) However, 25(OH) levels were slightly positively associated with advanced cancer. The results remained substantially unchanged after stratification by intake of fish or calcium intake.

Conclusions:

25(OH)D level showed no association with overall prostate cancer among Japanese men in this large cohort.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by a National Cancer Center Research and Development Fund (23-A-31[toku] and 26-A-2) (since 2011), a Grant-in-Aid for Cancer Research from the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare of Japan (from 1989 to 2010) and the practical research for innovative cancer control from Japan Agency for Medical Research and development, AMED (H26-practical-general-093).

We are indebted to the Aomori, Iwate, Ibaraki, Niigata, Osaka, Kochi, Nagasaki, and Okinawa Cancer Registries for providing their incidence data.

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Author notes

  1. N Sawada, M Inoue, M Iwasaki, T Yamaji, T Shimazu, S Sasazuki and S Tsugane: Members of on behalf of the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study (JPHC Study) of are listed above references.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Epidemiology and Prevention Group, Center for Public Health Sciences, National Cancer Center, Tokyo, Japan

    N Sawada, M Inoue, M Iwasaki, T Yamaji, T Shimazu, S Sasazuki & S Tsugane

  2. AXA Department of Health and Human Security, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, Tokyo, Japan

    M Inoue

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on behalf of the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study (JPHC Study)

Corresponding author

Correspondence to N Sawada.

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Competing interests

The authors have nothing to declare. Manami Inoue is the beneficiary of a financial contribution from the AXA Research fund as a chair holder on the AXA Department of Health and Human Security, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo. The AXA Research Fund had no role in the design, data collection, analysis, interpretation or manuscript drafting, or in the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Additional information

Members of the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study (JPHC Study, principal investigator: S. Tsugane) Group

JPHC members are listed at the following site (as of April 2016): http://epi.ncc.go.jp/en/jphc/781/3838.html.

Supplementary Information accompanies this paper on European Journal of Clinical Nutrition website

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Sawada, N., Inoue, M., Iwasaki, M. et al. Plasma 25-hydroxy vitamin D and subsequent prostate cancer risk in a nested Case-Control study in Japan: The JPHC study. Eur J Clin Nutr 71, 132–136 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/ejcn.2016.184

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